The monthly figures illustrate that the activities of the country’s flag carrier airline are getting back on track after the spread of coronavirus brought significant slump in both passenger and cargo sectors in mid-February.
Around 172,000 passengers were transported in the third month ending June 20, constituting 52% of the total quarterly figure.
The airline handled a total of 52,000 and 78,000 passengers during the first and second months under review, respectively.
IranAir registered 8,457 flight hours during the first quarter, of which 4,283 hours (50%) were operated in the third month under review.
Close to 3,000 tons of cargo were also handled during the three months, 64% of which were carried in the month ending June 21.
More than 43.8 tons of mail deliveries were also conducted by the airline’s postal service. About 66% of the deliveries belong to the third month.
Based on the report, the flag carrier gained permissions to operate several international flights in the third month under review.
IranAir is now operating round-trip flights to Manchester, Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, Stockholm, London, Madrid, Vienna and Dusseldorf.
IranAir Auction
Iran’s national flag carrier airline, IranAir, has put up 11 of its old planes for auction.
Initially a list of 12 aircraft with their starting bid price was published by local and foreign media last week.
Later on it was announced that one of these planes will be transferred to the Aviation Museum at Tehran Aviation Exhibition.
According to the last week’s report by salameno.ir citing the advertisement published on IranAir website, the full list of aircraft up for auction is as follows:
Boeing 747SP EP-IAA c/n 20998 with a starting bid price of 965 million rials ($3,584)
Boeing 747SP EP-IAB c/n 20999 with astarting bid price of 1.08 billion rials ($4,011)
Boeing 747SP EP-IAD c/n 21758 with a starting bid price of 1.12 billion rials ($4,160)
Boeing 747-100 EP-IAM c/n 21759 with a starting bid price of 1.04 billion rials ($3,863)
Airbus A300B2K EP-IBT c/n 185 with a starting bid price of 715 million rials ($2,656)
Airbus A300B2-2K EP-IBV c/n 187 with a starting bid price of 625 million rials ($2,321)
Airbus A300B2-200 EP-IBZ c/n 226 with a starting bid price of 925 million rials ($3,436)
Boeing 727-200 EP-IRR c/n 20946 with a starting bid price of 415 million rials ($1,541)
Boeing 727-200 EP-IRS c/n 20947 with a starting bid price of 470 million rials ($1,745)
Airbus A310-200 EP-IBN c/n 375 with a starting bid price of 855 million rials ($3,176)
Boeing 747-200 EP-IAG c/n 21217 with a starting bid price of 867.5 million rials ($3,222)
Airbus A310-200 EP-IBQ c/n 389 with the starting bid price of 900 million rials ($3,343)
“All these planes have been out of service for extended period of time and their main parts were used as a source of spare parts,” Maqsoud Asadi-Samani, secretary of the Association of Iranian Airlines, told the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development on Monday.
Noting that finding a space to park these ancient jetliners has been troubling Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport and mounting costs for IranAir, the official said, “Customers who might participate in the auction are usually those who seek to strip them down as spare parts, or break them up for their aluminum scrap value. Others might be willing to refurbish them as restaurants or hotels.”
The planes on auction have reportedly all had one owner, apart from the A310s that were previously operated by Turkish Airlines.