2nd Regional Flight Operated by Iran Air's ATR Planes

EghtesadOnline: The Iranian flag carrier’s second regional flight with ATR 72-600 aircraft was operated on Thursday, leaving Tabriz International Airport in East Azarbaijan Province for Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

News ID: ۷۸۴۴۱۳

22 December 2018

The announcement was made by the manager of Iran Air’s Public Relations Department, Massoumeh Asgharzadeh, as saying.

The establishment of the new flight, according to the official, is in line with the flag carrier’s plans to establish regional flights with ATR 72-600 aircraft from Iran’s border provinces to neighboring countries.

“From now on, Iran Air’s regional flights headed to Azerbaijan will be carried out weekly on Mondays and Thursdays,” Financial Tribune quoted her as saying.

Iran Air's first regional flight with ATR 72-600 aircraft was launched on Dec. 3, from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport to Baku.

"Iran Air plans to establish flights to countries within 600 kilometers of Iranian borders,” Iran Air CEO Farzaneh Sharafbafi said.

She announced plans to operate more such flights, including from Bandar Abbas.

Currently, Iran Air operates 13 ATR planes.

To upgrade its aging fleet, Iran Air ordered 200 passenger aircraft—100 from Airbus, 80 from Boeing and 20+20 from Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR—after a 2015 nuclear deal was reached between Iran and six major powers. But the US Treasury Department revoked the licenses of Boeing and France’s Airbus to sell commercial planes to Iran Air after US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in May and reimposed sanctions.

An Airbus A321, two Airbus A330s and 13 ATR 72-600 turboprops, five of which were delivered hours before the first reimposition of the first batch of sanctions in August have been delivered to Iran as part of the contracts.

The rest of the orders have been cancelled, as OFAC revoked previously issued licenses allowing the sales of brand-new airplanes to Iran. This is while selling airplanes to Iran was among the issues directly addressed in the nuclear agreement.

Boeing never officially added Iran’s order to its list of sold jets and has said it will not pursue the deal.