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Founded | 1970 as Air Taxi | ||||||
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Commenced operations | 1980 as Iran Aseman Airlines | ||||||
Hubs | |||||||
Fleet size | 20 | ||||||
Destinations | 50 | ||||||
Parent company | Iranian Civil Pension Fund Investment Company | ||||||
Headquarters | Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran, Iran | ||||||
Key people |
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Employees | About 4000 | ||||||
Website | www |
Iran Aseman Airlines (Persian: هواپیمایی آسمان, romanized: Havâpeymâyi-ye Âsemân) is the third-largest Iranian airline headquartered in Tehran. It operates scheduled domestic passenger services and regional international services.
The airline was established and started operating in 1980. The airline's historic links go back to 1958 to the airline Air Taxi Co., which was rebranded as Pars Air in the 1970s and later Iran Aseman Airlines.[2] In March 2007, it was owned by Iranian Civil Pension Fund Investment Company and had 298 employees. It has since been privatized.
In July 2016, the CEO of the airline was issued an arrest warrant because of an alleged sum of approximately $37 million in public debts to Iran Airports & Air Navigation Company.[3]
In February 2017, it emerged that Aseman Airlines was in talks with an Irish firm to lease seven Airbus A320neos.[4] In April 2017, the airline signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Boeing for the purchase of 30 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with options for another 30 aircraft.[5] In June 2017, Iran Aseman Airlines signed a final deal to buy 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets.[6] In June 2018, Boeing announced it would not be able to deliver any aircraft to Iranian airlines due to the US's sanctions against Iran.[7]
On 13 January 2019, the airline operated the last Boeing 727 commercial passenger flight worldwide.[8][9]
The airline is currently banned from operating in the airspace of the European Union for "failing to meet [safety-related] regulatory oversight standards of the EU".[10][11]
Main article: List of Iran Aseman Airlines destinations |
As of August 2019, Iran Aseman Airlines operated the following fleet:[12]
Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Airbus A320-200 | 6 | — | 156 | |
164 | ||||
Airbus A340-300 | 1 | — | 257 | |
ATR 72-200 | 1 | — | 70 | |
ATR 72-500 | 2 | — | 70 | |
Boeing 737-400 | 4 | — | 144 | |
Fokker 100 | 8 | — | 100 | [13] |
Total | 20 | 0 |
Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
ATR 72 | 3 | 1993 | 2018 | 1 Crashed as Flight 3704 |
Boeing 727-200 | 4 | 1998 | 2019 | Last commercial operator of the Boeing 727 |