Prior to sanctions, Iran’s national airline maintained a significant European presence despite ongoing scrutiny of its aging fleet.
Iran Air is facing a severe windfall due to US-European sanctions.
In August the US Treasury sanctioned Iran Air for transporting goods on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). Sanctions documents revealed Iran Air leveraged both its passenger service and cargo operations to deliver electronics and aircraft parts to Russia for its war against Ukraine.
European authorities followed with their own bans by September.
“Many Iranians visited their families in Europe using our flights, and Iranians residing in Europe traveled back home with Iran Air. These individuals are now facing increased travel costs,” Iran Air CEO Hossain Khanlari tells ILNA news agency on Monday.
“We are also a major carrier of pharmaceuticals from Europe, with two-thirds of the 12-ton cargo on each flight being medicine, primarily from Germany,”
Seeking alternatives, Iran Air has expanded its Asian routes, yet results have been mixed.
“While these new routes are profitable, they cannot fully compensate for the revenue lost from European flights,” Khanlari admitted.
Prior to sanctions, Iran’s national airline maintained a significant European presence despite ongoing scrutiny of its aging fleet.
Weekly operations included approximately 24 flights each way to nine European cities, including London, Paris, and Frankfurt.
Despite these public setbacks, Kharon, a firm specializing in security threats and sanctions compliance, has found that Iran Air hasn’t entirely disappeared from Europe’s commercial landscape.
Kharon’s investigation team found a complex web of Iran Air’s general sales agents (GSAs) and affiliated companies continuing to facilitate Iranian import-export operations in Western Europe.
The network is reportedly anchored by Adineh Travel, a GSA that acts as Iran Air’s representative to handle its bookings, coordinate cargo and passenger logistics, and manage revenue.
Unlike GSAs for other Iranian airlines such as Mahan Air that have faced sanctions previously, this European-based network has so far been able to evade authorities.