Iran Air
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Iran Air is the national and international airline of Iran, based in Tehran. Its acronym is Homa (هما in Persian), formed from the initial letters of the name in Persian, هواپیمایی ملی ایرانHavapeyma'i-ye Melli-ye Iran. It operates services to 20 scheduled and 5 charter destinations. Its main base is Mehrabad International Airport (THR), Tehran.
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History
Iran Air was established on February 24, 1962, after Iranian Airways and Persian Air Services joined together under the name of Iran National Airlines Corporation, known as Iran Air. Iranian Airways had been the first Iranian flag carrier and was formed in 1946. Iran Air soon built a large route structure and a dense domestic network. The first planes used by the company were the Avro York, Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-6 and Vickers Viscount.
In 1965, the company received its first jet plane, a Boeing 727. The much desired route to New York was opened in 1970 with Boeing 707 aircraft, but those aircraft were later replaced on the route with Boeing 747SP jets in 1976. In the late 1970s, Iran Air was the fastest growing airline in the world. In 1978, the airline bought six Airbus A300-B4 aircraft to be used on its domestic and regional routes.
Homa.jpg
The airline is wholly owned by the Government of Iran and employs 8,887 staff.
Incidents and Accidents
- January 21, 1980; Iran Air Boeing 727-86; near Tehran, Iran : The aircraft hit high ground in snowstorm during approach. All eight crew members and 120 passengers were killed.
- On 3 July, 1988, Iran Air Flight 655 was over the Persian Gulf on its way to the Dubai from Bandar Abbas. The plane flew near the ship USS Vincennes, a U.S. Navy cruiser equipped with the most sophisticated radar and electronic battle gear. The ship mistook the airliner for an Iranian F-14 Tomcat. When the aircrew failed to respond to a message, the cruiser shot the airliner down with a missile. All aboard the plane died. The United States called the incident a tragic mistake. Newsweek published a long article ( “Sea of Lies”, July 13, 1992) that largely blamed Capt. Will Rogers, the Vincennes' commander. All 16 crew and 274 passengers were killed.
Services
Iran operates the following services (at January 2005):
- Domestic scheduled destinations: Ahwaz, Ardabil, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Lengeh, Bushehr, Chah-Bahar, Gheshm, Isfahan, Kerman, Kermanshah, Kish Island, Mashad, Rasht, Sary, Shahre-Kord, Shiraz, Tabriz, Tehran, Urmieh, Yazd and Zahedan.
- International scheduled services: Almaty, Amsterdam, Bahrain, Baku, Beijing, Beirut, Cologne, Copenhagen, Damascus, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Istanbul, Jeddah, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Milan, Moscow, Mumbai, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Sharjah, Stockholm, Tashkent, Tokyo and Vienna.
Fleet
The Iran Air fleet consists of the following aircraft (at June 2005):
- 4 Airbus A300B2
- 4 Airbus A300B4
- 6 Airbus A310-200
- 2 Airbus A310-300
- 2 Boeing 727-100
- 4 Boeing 727-200
- 1 Boeing 747-100
- 3 Boeing 747-200
- 3 Boeing 747SP
- 8 Fokker 100
External links
- Iran Air (http://www.iranair.com)
- Iran Air Fleet Detail (http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Iran_Air?show=all)
- Iran Air Passenger Opinions (http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/iran.htm)
Regional Iran Air websites:
- Iran Air UK (http://www.iranair.co.uk) - Info for flights to the UK and North America
- Iran Air Germany (http://www.iran-air.de/) - In German and English
- Iran Air Austria (http://www.iranair.at/) - In German
- Iran Air Netherlands (http://www.iranair.nl/) - In English
- Iran Air Italy (http://www.iranair.it/) - In Italian
- Iran Air East Asia (http://www.iranairjp.com/) - In Japanese and Korean
Historical reviews: For a complete history of the airline see:
- The Evolution of the Iranian Airlines Industry (http://www.iranian.com/History/June97/IranAir/index.shtml), by Abbas Atrvash.
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