IKIA Direct Flights to Europe Rise

EghtesadOnline: As international airlines return to Imam Khomeini International Airport, direct flights between the airport and European destinations increase, IRNA reported, citing the public relations department of the airport.

News ID: ۷۸۶۶۶۲

13 July 2021

Lufthansa flights are being operated three days a week and will increase to five according to a new agreement.

Austrian Airlines AG, the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, will also resume its Vienna-bound flights scheduled for three times a week as of July 17.

On July 7, Lufthansa operated a direct flight from Tehran to Frankfurt.

IKIA is obliged to comply with health protocols ratified by the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran and the National Headquarters to Fight Coronavirus.

All inbound and outbound passengers are required to submit their negative PCR tests for the coronavirus.

At present, Emirates, the flag carrier of UAE, and Qatar Airways, the state-owned flag carrier of Qatar, operate daily flights from Dubai and Doha to Tehran.

More than four direct flights between Iran and Turkey are being operated on a daily basis from IKIA to Izmir, Ankara, Istanbul and Denizli by Turkish Airlines, the national flag carrier airline of Turkey, Pegasus Airlines – a Turkish low-cost carrier headquartered in Istanbul with bases at several Turkish airports, and IranAir, the country’s flag carrier airline.

Qatar Airways also operates connecting flights for passengers headed to Europe, Canada and the United States.

Local airlines continue to conduct flights to Yerevan, Baghdad and Najaf.

IKIA flights are being operated from Terminal No. 1 while Salam Terminal has yet to host any flight.

Bank Pasargad, Imam Khomeini Airport Town Company and Iran Airports Company recently signed a financing agreement for the development of Phase I of Terminal No. 2 of Imam Khomeini International Airport.

Under the build-operate-transfer contract worth €2 billion, Bank Pasargad will provide 80% of the financing and Imam Khomeini Airport Town Company and Iran Airports Company will each provide 10% of the funds, the news outlet of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported.

Imam Khomeini International Airport has the capacity to handle 10-12 million passengers annually. With the completion of Phase I of the new terminal, IKIA’s capacity will increase to 35 million passengers; when fully operated, the airport’s capacity will rise to 110 million passengers per year.

A total of 600 hectares have been allocated for the construction of the new terminal; Phase I of the terminal will spread over an area of 410,000 square meters. The airport apron — the area of an airport where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, boarded, or maintained — will be developed over 100 hectares and will provide parking space for 70 airplanes.

Phase I of the project is scheduled to finish in 48 months.

According to Roads Minister Mohammad Eslami, IKIA will become Iran’s first international airport with transit capacity when the new terminal becomes operational.

“The capacity of local airports has increased by 10 million passengers over the past three years. Iranian airports’ capacity now stands at 57 million passengers annually and will increase by 10 million passengers by the end of the current Iranian year [March 20, 2022],” he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.

Imam Khomeini International Airport recently received $8.61 million in new coronavirus loan, according to Mohammad Mehdi Karbalaei, Imam Khomeini Airport City's CEO.

The airport’s daily flights decreased from 300 per day in the fiscal 2017 to 50-60 flights in the fiscal 2021-22 due to travel restrictions following the outbreak of Covid-19.

Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) is the primary international airport of Tehran.

Imam Khomeini Airport City has the second busiest customs terminal dealing with imports, Fars News Agency reported.

The aggregate value of foreign currencies brought in or out of the country by the passengers must be declared to the customs office of Imam Khomeini International Airport on a newly-launched website.

According to Gholamreza Safari-Taheri, the director of the office, the website was designed in compliance with a decision by the Headquarters to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange.

The official noted that revenues gained by IKIA’s customs office increased by 12% in the last fiscal year (March 2020-21) despite an 80% decline in the number of flights due to restrictions imposed over Covid-19.

“The two-month period since the beginning of the current year [March 21] saw the office’s income rise by 52%, thanks to imports of pharmaceuticals and intermediate goods,” Safari-Taheri was quoted as saying by IRNA.