Iranian civil aviation officials announced on Monday that direct flights to Europe, operated by private companies, will resume by the end of January, over three months after the suspension of Iran Air’s European routes due to EU sanctions.
“European flights will resume on 31 January with the Paris-Tehran flight operated by the private company Iran Airtour,” stated Hossein Pourfarzaneh, the head of Iranian civil aviation, as quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
The European Union (EU) imposed new sanctions on Tehran in October, accusing it of providing missiles to Russia for the war in Ukraine. These sanctions included blacklisting the public carrier Iran Air, which was the only Iranian airline serving European destinations.
Iran has denied these accusations and condemned the sanctions as a “hostile act.” Pourfarzaneh also announced that another private airline, Qeshm Air, plans to launch flights to two European destinations, but did not specify which ones.
“We currently do not have flights to London (…) but we are considering establishing one soon,” he added. In addition to Iran Air, two other Iranian airlines, Saha Airlines and Mahan Air, are also affected by the European sanctions.
The aviation sector in Iran has suffered for years from international sanctions that prevent the country from purchasing aircraft, spare parts, and accessing maintenance services.
