European airlines` and Iran - Curt Lewis

EU airlines to launch flights to Iran soon

Iran says several leading European airlines including KLM, Air France and British Airways will start making flights to its Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) from late March.

Iran said on Thursday that several leading European airlines have presented plans to start making extraordinary trips to its Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) in late March.

The announcement has been made by Iran's Ministry of Transportation and Urban Development which says the European flights will start to land in IKIA in late March.

The airlines have been named as British Airways, KLM and Air France.

Hamid-Reza Seyyedi, a board member of IKIA Airport City, has been quoted by the media as saying that the three airlines have presented their flight plans to Iran for late March and that their plans have been finalized.

Seyyedi said the extraordinary flights are meant to answer the surge in the number of flights to Iran when the country is marking the new calendar year (to start 21 March 2016).

He also said Lufthansa that has already resumed its flights to Iran has requested to increase its flights to seven sorties per week throughout the new Iranian year holidays that end on 1 April 2016.

The official further emphasized that Iran expects an increase of at least 20 percent in the number of flights to IKIA during the holidays for the new Iranian year - known as the Norouz.