Iran Air

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Iran Air
ایران ایر
Iran Air logo
Boeing 747-200 of Iran Air
IATA code : IR
ICAO code : IRA
Call sign : IRANAIR
Founding: 1946 (as Iranian Airways)
Seat: Tehran , IranIranIran 
Turnstile :
Home airport : Tehran Imam Khomeini
Company form: State company
IATA prefix code : 096
Management: Farzaneh Sharafbafi ( CEO )
Frequent Flyer Program : SkyGift
Fleet size: 41
Aims: National and international
Website: www.iranair.de

Iran Air ( Persian ایران ایر; until 1962 Iranian Airways Company ) is the state airline of Iran , based in Tehran and based at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport .

history

Iranian Airways

Iranian Airways Douglas C-47B in 1954 in Manchester

In May 1944 the Iranian Airways Company was founded. Shortly after the end of World War II, the first passenger flight was carried out, from Tehran to Mashad . Iranian Airways operated a fleet of numerous Douglas DC-3s and some De Havilland DH.104 Dove . The first foreign destinations were Baghdad , Beirut and Cairo , to which lines were opened from 1946. Tel Aviv-Lydda Airport has also been added to the list of destinations. At the end of 1946, the first native pilots joined the hitherto US pilots. As early as 1947, the route network was expanded to Athens and Paris . During the development phase, the US American Transocean Air Lines provided support and conducted pilot training. In addition, aircraft of the types Convair CV-340 , four-engine Douglas DC-4 and DC-6 were operated for Iranian Airways. The collaboration with Transocean ended in 1961.

After five aircraft accidents with the DC-3 (see under “Incidents”), the company's reputation was tarnished. For this reason, among other things, the fleet was expanded to include modern medium- haul aircraft in 1958 with three brand-new Vickers Viscount 782D aircraft . Iranian Airways started the first mixed international passenger and cargo traffic in the same year between Tehran and Frankfurt . The Viscounts also served as destinations as far as Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Persian Air Services

In 1954 a second private airline, Persian Air Services (PAS) was established. Initially only cargo flights were carried out, including to Europe. The route led from Tehran first in the opposite direction to Abadan , then via Beirut and Brindisi to Basel . Later, PAS also took up passenger services from its headquarters in Tehran to major Iranian cities. From 1960 passenger flights to Europe were offered with rented aircraft.

In addition to four of its own Avro York , PAS also used Douglas DC-4 , DC-6 and DC-7 aircraft leased from the Belgian company Sabena . Technical support was provided by the British airline Skyways , which operated a large number of Avro Yorks itself. Of the four Avro Yorks, however, three were lost to total losses between 1955 and 1959. The long-haul DC-7 aircraft were able to offer direct flights to Geneva, Paris, Brussels and London.

Iran Air

In 1961 it was decided to found a state-owned airline. On February 24, 1961, the two airlines merged to form Iran National Airlines Corporation . Iran Air has been a member of the international airline association IATA since 1964 . When Iran Air was able to deploy its first Boeing 727 in 1965 , the route network was expanded to include London . In the 1970s, Iran Air received a new fleet from Boeing , including the 707 , 727, 737 and 747 . The purchase of the Concorde supersonic aircraft was also planned. In 1976 the first flight from Tehran to New York took place with a Boeing 747-SP . After that, Airbus A300s were also bought.

After the Islamic Revolution , the supply of new aircraft stalled and due to political disputes there was a trade embargo against Iran until January 2016 , which made it impossible to fundamentally modernize the fleet. Except for a few more Airbus A300 and A310 from first and last second hand from Turkish Airlines , Emirates and Olympic Airlines as well as Fokker 100 for domestic traffic, there was no further fleet expansion. The embargo also made it impossible to procure original spare parts. As a result, the average age of the fleet is over 24 years compared to other airlines. The Boeing 747 fleet in particular was very old with an average age of over 36 years, but was also a popular motif for plane spotters due to the rarity of the -100 , -200 and -SP models . Iran Air is a member of IATA and has passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) .

Iran Air is based in Tehran, the decorative vertical stabilizer comes from an Airbus A300 that was destroyed in 2000

On March 20, 2009, the Iranian government announced that Iran Air would be privatized. It operates several subsidiaries, including Iran Airtour , based in Mashhad for additional domestic and charter flights, and Iran Air Cargo for freight transport.

In March 2010, flight operations to countries in the European Union were restricted; Due to safety deficiencies, these may only be approached by certain Iran Air aircraft. In July 2010, the restrictions on Iran Air were extended to other aircraft types such as Boeing 747s .

In January 2014, Iran Air retired the world's last Boeing 747-100 still in operation ; she had received it new in 1979. In November 2014, some of the remaining 747-SPs that Iran Air was one of the last companies in the world to still operate were also retired.

In November 2014 it became known that Boeing would be supplying Iran directly for the first time since 1979 . The first shipment was about $ 120,000 of manuals, drawings, and navigational aids .

Due to the end of the trade embargo in January 2016, Iran Air ordered 20 aircraft from ATR in the same month and 100 from Airbus in December 2016 . This was preceded by a letter of intent for 21 A320 and 24 A320neo family aircraft as well as 27 A330 and 18 A330-900neo, 16 A350-1000 and twelve A380-800 in January 2016. The idea of ​​buying the A380 was dropped.

A letter of intent for 80 aircraft was also signed at Boeing in December 2016. This includes 50 737 MAX 8 as well as 15 777-300ER and 777-9 each . It is to be feared that trade after the assumption of office of the new US President Donald Trump could become impossible due to a US export ban.

In June 2016, the European Commission decided to lift most of the restrictions on the operation of Iran Air in European airspace.

At the beginning of July 2016, the Iranian government decided that by July 2017 all aircraft that are 24 years of age and over must be retired. Shortly thereafter, Iran Air decommissioned its last Boeing 747-SP . At the end of February 2018, however, there were numerous aircraft in active service that should have already been retired according to the 2016 decision. On January 11, 2017, Iran Air took over a new aircraft from the factory for the first time in 23 years. It is an Airbus A321-200 with the aircraft registration EP-IFA .

During 2017, Iran Air received additional aircraft from Airbus and ATR. In March 2017 two Airbus A330-200s were delivered; four ATR 72-600 were delivered to the airline in May. The last delivery of five ATR 72-600s took place at the beginning of August 2018 and therefore immediately before the renewal of the Iran sanctions announced by US President Donald Trump . In September of the same year, ATR announced that there would be no more deliveries to Iran Air and that the aircraft ordered would be placed with other companies.

In February 2019 Iran Air announced that it had acquired three used Airbus A319-100s. The machines from the year of construction 2002 were probably acquired through a company from Tajikistan .

Destinations

Iran Air operates a dense network of national connections and flies to destinations in the Middle East , Europe and Asia . In German-speaking countries are Frankfurt , Hamburg , Cologne / Bonn and Vienna served.

Code sharing

Codeshare agreements exist with Aeroflot , Air France , Austrian Airlines , Conviasa , Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa .

fleet

Airbus A300B2-200 of Iran Air
Airbus A320-200 of Iran Air
Fokker 100 from Iran Air

Current fleet

As of March 2020, Iran Air's fleet consists of 41 aircraft with an average age of 18.2 years:

Aircraft type number ordered Remarks Seats
( Business / Economy )
Airbus A300B2-200 1 oldest aircraft in operation, newly delivered to Iran Air in 1980; The world's last active aircraft of the A300 type B2 and the world's oldest active aircraft from the Airbus brand 277 (- / 277)
Airbus A300B4-200 3 Year of construction 1981/83/84; second to fourth oldest aircraft in the fleet and second to fourth oldest active Airbus passenger aircraft worldwide; 2 inactive; EP-IBG: world's last active Airbus A300FFCC ; Iran Air is the world's last operator of the passenger version of the A300 B4 254 (17/237)
287 (- / 287)
294 (- / 294)
Airbus A300-600 4th including two former Olympic Airways aircraft and two aircraft newly delivered by Airbus in 1994; Iran Air operates the world's largest fleet of A300 passenger aircraft 257 (17/240)
263 (27/236)
Airbus A310-300 2 one inactive; EP-IBL is a former Emirates aircraft 185 (17/168)
200 (17/183)
Airbus A319-100 3 Year of construction 2002; procured used in February 2019, floating in December 2019; one inactive - open -
Airbus A320-200 5 two inactive 144 (11/133)
145 (11/134)
146 (11/135)
Airbus A321-200 1 equipped with sharklets ; brand new machine; Delivery on January 11, 2017; no further new deliveries planned until further notice 194 (12/182)
Airbus A330-200 2 Received brand new from Airbus inventory in March 2017; Year of construction 2014; however stored after order cancellation by Avianca Brazil ; no further new deliveries 238 (32/206)
ATR 72-600 13 Newly delivered between May 16, 2017 and August 5, 2018 - due to the renewal of the Iran sanctions, the cooperation between Iran Air and ATR was terminated, another seven firm orders were no longer delivered. 68 (- / 68)
Boeing 747-200M 1 Iran Air Cargo cargo plane ; Operating ban in the EU Cargo
Fokker 100 4th last of formerly 20 active aircraft of this type at Iran Air, operating ban in the EU, 1 inactive since the landing accident on March 19, 2019 104 (- / 104)
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 1
SAIC MD-82 1 Made in China under license of the McDonnell Douglas MD-82
total 41 -

Special feature regarding the fleet

Iran Air's fleet includes both the oldest commercial passenger aircraft in the country and the youngest: In 2017, after the Iran sanctions were eased, a renewal of the fleet began. By August 2018, Iran Air had received 16 brand new aircraft from Airbus and ATR. Due to the renewal of the sanctions, further new deliveries are excluded, which is why several 35 to 40 year old Airbus planes remained in operation. The average age of the Iran Air fleet is by far the lowest of all Iranian airlines - their fleets are all more than 20 years old on average, usually 24 to 27 years old.

Another feature of the Iran Air fleet is that the Boeing machines have increasingly been taken out of service over the years and mainly machines from European production have been added to the fleet. An obvious reason for this is the better relationship with European aircraft manufacturers: while Boeing has stopped its new deliveries to Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Fokker , Airbus and most recently ATR have been delivering new machines to the airline since then.

Boeing 747-SP of Iran Air in 2009
Iran Air Boeing 707-300C in 1974

Previously deployed aircraft

In the past, Iran Air used the following aircraft, among others:

Incidents

Iran Air and its immediate predecessor companies recorded 25 total aircraft losses in their history up to November 2017. In 12 of them there were 548 fatalities. Examples:

  • On December 1, 1950, another Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-25-DK of Iranian Airways (EP-AAJ) collided with a mountain on a flight from Tabriz to Tehran, killing all eight people on board.
  • On September 14, 1955, on an Avro York C.1 from Persian Air Services (EP-ADA), shortly after take-off from Abadan Airport ( Iran ), engine 3 (right inside) initially lost power when the machine reached a height of around Had reached 150 meters. Shortly afterwards, engine 4 (far right) began to stutter severely. An emergency landing was carried out on Iraqi territory, about 20 kilometers south of the take-off airport. All 13 occupants, 4 crew members and 9 passengers survived the emergency landing.
  • On September 17, 1956, a fuel tank exploded in an Avro York C.1 of Persian Air Services (EP-ADB) while maintenance work was being carried out at London Stansted Airport . The machine was destroyed. No people were killed.
The 1980 Iran Air Boeing 727-86 crashed in 1977
  • On July 15, 1959, an Avro York C.1 of Persian Air Services (EP-ADE) crashed near Kuwait Airport . The machine was totaled. Further details are not known.
  • On January 21, 1980, a Boeing 727-86 from Iran Air with the aircraft registration EP-IRD coming from Mashhad got into a snow storm while approaching Tehran-Mehrabad airport. The machine flew 29 km north of the city in the Elburs Mountains after the crew deviated from the prescribed course. All 120 passengers and eight crew members lost their lives.
  • On June 9, 1996, a Boeing 727-286 (EP-IRU) had an accident during a training flight near Rascht . After 15 touch-and-go operations, the aircraft landed with the landing gear retracted and took off again. The resulting fire led to a crash landing in the area, in which four of the seven crew members were killed (see also flight accident of a Boeing 727 of Iran Air near Rascht ) .
  • On January 9, 2011, a Boeing 727-286adv (EP-IRP) on the flight from Tehran with 105 people on board was flown into a mountain near Urmia Airport . She was approaching landing in poor weather conditions when the crew took off and shortly afterwards the aircraft collided with a nearby mountain slope. 78 of the 105 people on board were killed (see Iran Air flight 277 ) .
  • On March 19, 2019, a Fokker 100 (EP-IDG) from Iran Air, with which a flight from Qeshm to Tehran was being carried out, landed on its belly at Tehran's Mehrabad airport after the landing gear could not be extended either hydraulically or mechanically. There were no injuries among the 24 passengers and 9 crew members. Initial investigations showed that the aircraft had been losing hydraulic fluids for a long time.

In addition, Iran Air was hit by plane hijackings in August 1985, December 1985 and January 1990 , in which a total of six hijackers were shot but no one was otherwise harmed.

Trivia

The logo of Iran Air is the "Homa" ( homā ), a bird from Persian mythology, which is said to give happiness and joy. The airline's magazine ( Homa - Iran Air Inflight Monthly Magazine ) and the company's business class are also referred to as Homa-Class after him .

See also

Web links

Commons : Iran Air  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Eiselin: Farzaneh Shrafbafi. Who is the new head of Iran Air? aerotelegraph.com. July 10, 2017, accessed March 1, 2018.
  2. ^ Leonard Bridgman (Ed.): Jane's All The World's Aircraft, 1952-53. Sampson Low, Marston & Company, London 1952, p. 21.
  3. ↑ Iran Chamber Society: The History of Iranian Air Transportation Industry , accessed February 5, 2020.
  4. ↑ Iran Air History ( Memento of the original from April 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English). iranair.com. Retrieved March 1, 2018. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iranair.com
  5. ↑ Iran Chamber Society: The History of Iranian Air Transportation Industry , accessed February 5, 2020.
  6. ↑ rzjets: Persian Air Services (English), accessed on February 5, 2020.
  7. ↑ Arian Faal: Iran Air is facing privatization. In: Wiener Zeitung . March 24, 2009, accessed December 21, 2014 .
  8. ↑ Flight bans for Sudan and the Philippines. EU extends "black list". daily news . March 30, 2010, accessed March 1, 2018.
  9. ↑ Restrictions for Iran Air. EU presents new «black list». airliners.de. July 6, 2010, accessed March 1, 2018.
  10. ↑ Iran Air retires the world's last active B747-100 from revenue service (English). ch-aviation . January 13, 2014, accessed March 1, 2018.
  11. ↑ Sebastian Steinke: Shortened Jumbo for ultra long distances. Iran Air: Farewell to the Boeing 747SP. aero.de. September 15, 2014, accessed March 1, 2018.
  12. ↑ Boeing in first official transaction with Iran since 1979 (English). ch-aviation . October 27, 2014, accessed March 1, 2018.
  13. ↑ Iran Air and Airbus seal historic aircraft order. In: airbus.com. Airbus , December 22, 2016, accessed January 13, 2017 .
  14. ↑ ATR signs a major agreement with Iran Air for 40 ATR 72-600s (English). ATR . February 1, 2016, accessed March 1, 2018.
  15. ↑ From the A320 to A380: Iran Air selects the full Airbus jetliner portfolio for its fleet modernization (English). Airbus . January 28, 2016, accessed March 1, 2018.
  16. ↑ Air Transport World, February 2017 edition, page 10.
  17. ↑ Iran Air Announce Agreement for 80 Airplanes (English). Boeing . December 11, 2016, accessed March 1, 2018.
  18. ↑ Chris Isidore: Trump's move on Iran could cost jobs at Boeing . CNN . February 3, 2017, accessed March 1, 2018.
  19. ↑ EU Commission largely re-permits Iran Air. airliners.de. June 17, 2016, accessed March 1, 2018.
  20. ↑ Old planes: Iran has to retire around 150 old planes. aerotelegraph.com, June 27, 2016, accessed March 1, 2018 .
  21. ↑ a b Iran Air Fleet Details and History (English). planespotters.net. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  22. ↑ https://www.planespotters.net/production-list/search?fleet=Iran-Air&manufacturer=ATR&type=ATR-42&fleetStatus=current
  23. ↑ US embargo: ATR places Iran Air planes elsewhere. aerotelegraph.com, September 12, 2018, accessed September 12, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Via Tajikistan: Iran Air takes three Airbus A319s into the Aerotelegraph fleet on February 25, 2019, accessed on March 7, 2019.
  25. ↑ Destinations. iranair.de. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  26. ↑ Codeshare Agreement between IranAir & Lufthansa (English). iranair.com. January 17, 2017, accessed March 1, 2018
  27. ↑ a b Iran Air Fleet Details and History. Retrieved March 21, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Orders & deliveries (English). Airbus . Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  29. ↑ Iran Air takes delivery of its first of 100 Airbus aircraft. (English). Airbus . January 11, 2017, accessed March 1, 2018.
  30. ↑ a b The delivery of a further 95 brand-new Airbus aircraft has been suspended for an indefinite period since August 2018 due to the Iran sanctions. The order includes six Airbus A320-200, 32 Airbus A320neo, seven Airbus A321-200, six Airbus A330-200, 28 Airbus A330-900neo and 16 Airbus A350-1000. See also Airbus
  31. ↑ Iran Air fleet details (English). airfleets.net. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  32. ↑ https://www.aerotelegraph.com/atr-platziert-flieger-von-iran-air-anderswo
  33. ↑ a b Christoph Seidler: Iran sanctions: bad for Airbus, bad for Boeing, bad for security. In: Spiegel Online . May 9, 2018, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  34. ↑ a b Accident report Fokker 100, EP-IDG Aviation Safety Network, accessed on March 22, 2019.
  35. ↑ MD-80 in Chinese - the "SAIC MD-80" md-80.com, accessed April 10, 2019.
  36. ↑ a b https://m.planespotters.net/country/operators/Iran
  37. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1967–2007.
  38. ↑ Iran Air (English). rzjets.net. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  39. ↑ Accident statistics Iranian Airways , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 1, 2017.
  40. ↑ Accident statistics Persian Air Services , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 1, 2017.
  41. ↑ Accident statistics Iran Air , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 1, 2017.
  42. ^ Accident report DC-3 EP-AAG , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 8, 2019.
  43. ^ Accident report DC-3 EP-AAJ , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 8, 2019.
  44. ^ Accident report DC-3 EP-ACJ , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 8, 2019.
  45. ^ Accident report Avro York EP-ADA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 5, 2020.
  46. ^ Accident report Avro York EP-ADB , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 5, 2020.
  47. ^ Accident report Avro York EP-ADE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 5, 2020.
  48. ↑ Accident report B-727-100 EP-IRD , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 8, 2019.
  49. ^ Accident report B-737-200 EP-IRG , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 8, 2019.
  50. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report A300 EP-IBU in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 11, 2017.
  51. ^ Accident report B-727-200 EP-IRU , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 31, 2020.
  52. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report A300 EP-IBR in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 11, 2017.
  53. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report C-130 IrAF in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 11, 2017.
  54. ^ Accident report B-727-200 EP-IRP , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 20, 2018.
  55. ↑ The Aviation Herald - Crash: Iran Air B722 near Uromiyeh on Jan 9th 2011, impacted terrain during go-around (English), accessed on March 11, 2017.
  56. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the hijacking of August 5, 1985 in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on September 8, 2016.
  57. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the hijacking of December 23, 1985 in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on September 8, 2016.
  58. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the hijacking of January 26, 1990 in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on September 8, 2016.
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Aban Air • Aria Air • ATA Airlines • Caspian Airlines • Chabahar Airlines • Fars Air Qeshm • Iran Air • Iran Airtour • Iran Aseman Airlines • Karun Airlines • Kish Air • Mahan Air • Meraj Airlines • Payam Air • Pouya Air • Qeshm Airlines • Saha Air • Sepehran Airlines • Taban Air • Taftan Airlines • Tehran Airlines • Yas Air • Zagros Airlines

Former

Atrak Air • Eram Air • Iranian Airways • Safiran Airlines • Sepahan Airlines