15% Jump in Overflights

EghtesadOnline: Iran Airports Company registered 8,431 overflights during the month ending Aug. 21, which indicate a 15.57% increase compared with the previous month.

News ID: ۷۵۱۰۱۱

16 September 2020

IAC statistics show 7,295 planes used the country’s airspace during the month ending July 21, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Iran is drawing up plans to offer discounts to some foreign airlines using its airspace, IRNA quoted a senior aviation official as saying recently, after a slump in flights due to the coronavirus pandemic and regional tensions.

Nasser Aqaei, director of the state-run Iran Airports and Air Navigation Company, said the discounts would go to the top eight airlines providing transit income as well as airlines boosting their flights by 20%.

However, no general cut in fees are planned, IRNA reported.

Iran uses overflight fees to fund services such as air traffic control, weather data and aeronautical information, Reuters reported.

The planned discounts still have to be approved by the government, Aqaei added.

Iran Airports Company’s revenues from overflight charges decreased by 46% or $69 million in the first half of 2020 compared with the same period of 2019, according to Siavash Amirmokri, managing director of the company.

The official noted that optimistic projections put the number of aircraft flying over Iranian airspace during 2020 at 112,000 and expected revenues to reach 10,000 billion rials ($38 million).

Noting that overflight and airport services’ fees are the only sources of income for Iran Airports Company, Saeed Akbari, an official with Iran Airports Company admitted that it is facing a severe resource crunch.

“IAC is a government-run company and does not have the option of resorting to downsizing. On top of that, our employees are mostly the aviation industry’s elites so we can’t afford to lose them,” he said.

Akbari stressed that even when the coronavirus outbreak ends, it would take a long time for the company to recover from this latest blow.

“The company may have to stop its ongoing development projects and cancel new contracts or implement pay cuts to stay afloat,” he was quoted as saying by the Persian-daily newspaper Etemad.