“The connecting flights will leave Mashhad International Airport every Monday for Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport before heading for Tajikistan,” Ali Rostami also told IRNA.
Direct flights between Iran and Tajikistan officially resumed after Varesh Airlines operated a plane from Iran's holy city of Mashhad to Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe on June 6.
Private company Varesh Airlines was founded in 2018. This airline performed its first flight on October 9 last year (from Tehran to Sari, the capital of Iran’s Mazandaran province), according to Financial Tribune.
Earlier, flights from Mashhad to Dushanbe and back were performed by Iranian company Aseman Airlines, which stopped flights on this route in October last year due to “economic problems”.
As a result, passengers who wanted to travel to Tajikistan had to take an indirect route to Tajikistan from a third country, which increased both costs and time.
Now, flights from Mashhad to Dushanbe are operated on Thursdays at 9:15 a.m. local time and the return flight is scheduled for the same day at 1 p.m.
The cost of a single ticket, according to Tajik Telegraph Agency, is $250.
Iran’s Embassy in Tajikistan hopes the number of direct flights between the two countries will increase in future, as mutual relations strengthen and passengers increase.
Earlier this month, Tajik Air resumed regular flights from Dushanbe to Mashhad.
Mohammad Baqer Qasemzadeh, director of airports of Khorasan Razavi Province, told IRNA that flights between the two cities will be conducted on Tuesdays and Fridays by a Boeing 767 airplane of Tajik Air.
Mashad’s Shahid Hasheminejad Airport is Iran’s second busiest airport after Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport. The airport handles 180 flights daily on average, which tend to increase to 250 flights in the peak season.
Mashhad International Airport registered 60,335 takeoffs and landings last year (March 2018-19), indicating an 18% decrease. It transported more than 8.82 million passengers and 86,086 tons of cargos, indicating a 16% and 9% decline respectively year-on-year.
IKIA has the biggest share of international flights operated in Iran.
Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport has been distinguished as the third fastest-growing airport in the world.
A study by Routes Online shows the airport grew in terms of passenger numbers by 48.6% during the first half of 2018 to 3.93 million, helped by Ata Airlines, following the rise in frequencies to Istanbul Ataturk.
Operated by Iran Airports Company, IKIA is located 30 kilometers southwest of Iran's capital city Tehran.
IKIA registered 47,446 takeoffs and landings in the last fiscal year that ended on March 20, 2019, to register a 19% decline.
More than 7.27 million passengers and 141,704 tons of cargos were transported from the airport during the period to be ranked third among Iran’s busiest airports, which show a 19% and 14% decline YOY.