IranAir to Resume Tehran-Vienna Flights

EghtesadOnline: IranAir, the country’s flag carrier airline, will resume roundtrip Tehran-Vienna flights as of August 15.

News ID: ۷۵۰۷۰۳

15 August 2020

The airline will offer weekly flights to Austria’s capital on Saturdays, departing from Imam Khomeini International Airport at 08:40 a.m. and the return flight will leave Vienna on the same day at 11:50 a.m. local time.

Passengers can book the flight online via the airline’s website at www.ebooking.iranair.com or call +982146621888, IRNA reported citing public relations of IranAir.

According to a statement released by Austria civil aviation authority, all passengers holding passports of the EU, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the UK, who have confirmed plane, train or bus tickets would be able to transit through Austria to their final destinations.

Visa D (proof of employment, of being a student there, spouse, children, etc.) is also among other required documents to fly to Austria.

Passengers older than 11 year arriving by air must provide negative Covid-19 test results in English to gain entry to Vienna; their PCR tests for the coronavirus must have been conducted not more than 72 hours before boarding.

They need to fill out entry requirement form on https://www.bmk.gv.at/en/service/entry-requirements.htm before the flight.

Manchester Flights

IranAir launched services to Manchester Airport from Tehran last month.

The once-weekly flight is serviced by its fleet of two Airbus A330-200 aircraft operating on Saturdays.

These aircraft offer 32 seats in Business class, followed by 238 in Economy class, Airways magazine reported.

The first flight departed Tehran at 0555L before arriving in Manchester at 0900L on June 3. The return then departed around 1030L before arriving back into Tehran for 2015L

IranAir’s service to Manchester Airport boost its seat capacity into the UK by 12.5%, offering 4,320 seats from the beginning of this month, with the thrice-weekly London Heathrow route complimenting this portfolio.

According to data from Anna.aero, the carrier will only offer 14,820 seats into the UK between now and the end of December if those two aircraft are used year-round.

In addition to giving a direct link to the Iranian capital, it also makes IranAir the only airline to operate to Tehran from the UK, especially after British Airways’ decision to suspend its route back in September 2018.

As of June 3, Manchester has been the sixth destination served in Europe by the airline after Milan, Stockholm, London, Madrid and Dusseldorf.

This is also significant news for the airport, in time for the relaunch of operations from the area since July 1.

Iran Air will now join the following airlines that are operating out of the airport: Air France, KLM, Aer Lingus, Eurowings, Loganair, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, British Airways, Ryanair and Eastern Airways.

On June 2, Aviation Director for Manchester Airport Julian Carr made a post on social media platform LinkedIn that other carriers such as Ethiopian, Finnair, Turkish and easyJet are restarting operations.

“While it’s some way off where we should have been, the initial loads on these flights have been very encouraging and shows there is certainly demand out there,” said Carr.

“While we’re not back to the levels in this picture, it’s great to finally be getting up and flying again and starting the process of rebuilding the Gateway to the North!”

It remains clear that Manchester Airport is positioning itself as a way of preparing for air travel to return to high levels once further restrictions on travel ease.

It will be interesting to see what the load factors are, not just on the IranAir flight but also on other general flights operating out of Manchester.

From there, it could be determined what air travel in the Northwest of England will look like going into the future.