News
Mahan Air ll barred from aircraft orders as Iran Air eyes a return to Tokyo
February 19th 2016
Iran’s Mahan Air has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to enhance Islamic tourism ties between the two countries. Read More » At last week’s signing ceremony, Mahan Air said it planned to increase frequency on the Bangkok-Tehran route beyond the five-weekly rotations currently offered in addition to introducing its own hajj flights from Thailand to Saudi Arabia.
Mahan Air’s expansion faces stiff headwinds as the carrier is subject to U.S. sanctions for its alleged continued support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, as well as various other regional groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. Washington has continued to engage stakeholders around the world to "prevent Mahan Air from acquiring aircraft and aircraft parts and software, preventing the opening of new routes and working to get existing routes cancelled, " Al Monitor newswire has reported, citing U.S. Treasury officials.
Mahan Air infamously acquired eight ex-Virgin Atlantic A340s (seven -600s, one -300) last May through its Iraqi proxy Al-Naser Airlines, which has since been blacklisted by the U.S.
Freed from sanctions, Iranian flag carrier, Iran Air, last month placed an outline order for 118 Airbus aircraft, including twelve A380s and 16 A350s valued at approximately $27 billion, for fleet renewal and expansion. Citing two officials familiar with the matter, Bloomberg last week reported Iran Air is looking to resume flights to Tokyo next year after axing operations in Japan in 2012. It was also suggested a Japanese carrier was evaluating scheduled services to Tehran. Japan’s Transport Ministry confirmed it has received several requests from Iran Air and the Iranian government, but “nothing has been decided yet”.
This week, China Southern Airlines said it would add a fifth weekly frequency to the Beijing-Urumqi-Tehran route from March 27. On February 3, British Airways became the latest European carrier to announce the resumption of services to the Iranian capital. The IAG carrier will resume six-weekly Heathrow-Tehran B777 operations from July, before going daily from October.
