Iranian airlines ramp up Istanbul route flights after EU sanctions

Tens of thousands of air travelers have been flown between the Iranian capital of Tehran and Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul in the past weeks after the European Union banned flights by Iran’s national airline to European destinations.

CEO of Iran’s largest international airport said on Saturday that flights between Tehran and Istanbul had increased significantly since mid-October when EU's sanctions caused Iran Air to cancel all of its flights to Europe.

Saeid Chalandari, who leads operations at Imam Khomeini Airport (IKA), said that more than 74,000 passengers had been flown between Tehran and Istanbul in the two weeks to October 29 using 366 flights by 10 Iranian airlines.

Chalandari said EU bans on Iran Air had inflicted financial losses on passengers despite the bloc’s claims that they were aimed at the Iranian government and its alleged ability to transfer weapons.

He said that Iranians are now using connection flights via Istanbul and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to reach their destinations in Europe.

The government official also said that some foreign airlines that had suspended flights to IKA because of regional tensions between Iran and Israel, including the Emirates and the Turkish Airlines, resumed their flights to and from the airport in the past two days.

Chalandari dismissed reports that EU bans on Iran Air and the regional tensions had caused a major decline in the activity of international carriers in Iran, saying that 11 foreign airlines had carried out flights to 13 foreign destinations other than Istanbul over the two weeks to October 29.

He said the figure 13 comes on top of flights carried out by Iranian airlines to 36 foreign destinations other than Istanbul over the two-week period.

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