Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.20
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
The activity of foreign airlines in Iran imposes $5 billion loss to Iran annually, managing director of Islamic Republic of Iran Airline (Iran Air), Farhad Parvaresh said.
Parvaresh said the lack of sufficient aircrafts in the country and the activity of Qatari, Emirati, and Turkish airlines cause an outflow of $5 billion from the country annually, Iran's Fars news agency reported on Dec. 20.
The US-led sanctions on aircraft and spare parts exports to Iran have left the Iranian airlines saddled with not only some of the oldest fleet in the Middle East, but in the world.
Earlier head of Iran Civil Aviation Organization, Alireza Jahangirian said that the country needs at least 300 operational airplanes, while currently the country has only about 150, each of which are averagely 20 years old.
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