BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 19. Foreign airlines
owe a total of $30 million to IranAir, IranAir chairman and CEO
Taher Abdolhai said.
This was announced in a statement by Iran's Ministry of Roads
and Urban Development.
"Airlines such as Gulf Air, Lufthansa, Asteria, Turkish
Airlines, and several others have accumulated debts to IranAir for
ground handling services and catering," he explained.
The company executive noted that due to the imposition of
sanctions against Iran and the freezing of bank accounts, IranAir
is unable to recover these outstanding debts.
Abdollahi added that the issue of Iranian airlines operating
flights to European countries isn't solely related to sanctions.
This is because technical and regulatory assessments must be
conducted, and the necessary licenses must be obtained. Even if the
restrictions imposed on Iranian airlines were to be lifted, it
would still take some time to complete the required regulatory
checks and refine the necessary processes before the airline could
launch flights to European destinations.
On September 8, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
imposed sanctions on 36 entities linked to Iran’s aviation sector,
including 27 Iranian airlines. The sanctions also extend to foreign
companies that provide aircraft, cargo transport, or agency
services to Iranian airlines.
