BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 15
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend
Iranian airline companies have suffered a loss of more than 30 trillion rials (about $714 million) as a result of the cancellation of flights, said Secretary of Iran's Aviation Companies Association Maghsoud Asadi Samani, Trend reports citing ILNA news agency.
According to Asadi Samani, more and more flights are being canceled as a result of the spread of coronavirus in Iran.
Association official said that the Iran Civil Aviation Organization has been asked to issue a one-month deadline to the citizens to return the tickets for canceled flights.
"Flights to Iranian airports in Rasht, Ramsar and Noshahr have been canceled and no flights will be made to Qeshm starting from March 17," he said.
Samani said that in addition, flights to Sari and Mashhad airports are limited. Flights to the Kish airport are available only to residents and people who work there.
Iran is one of the recent countries, affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 13,900 people have been infected, 724 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 4,700 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
Following the reports of coronavirus spread in the Islamic Republic, several countries have taken measures, including closing borders and banning flights.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
