Tehran, Iran, June 8

Trend:

Iran's domestic flights may be transferred to newly built Salam Terminal at the Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA), said Managing Director of IKIA in his interview to Trend

"Considering growing number of the foreign tourists visiting Iran, it is likely that domestic flights be transferred to this terminal," noted Siavash Amir Mokri.

"There are corresponding requests from the airports in Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz and Mashhad, but it is not clear yet whether it is economically effective," he added.

"We have no plans to transfer flights in the nearest future and any decision should be approved by Iran Civil Aviation Organization, Mehrabad Airport and Iranian airline companies," he said.

It was expected that domestic flights would fly from Salam Terminal from midnight to 5:00am. "One of the advances of using Salam Terminal is that it allows to manage the domestic flights during night hours to avoid disturbance for households near Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, In the meantime, it shall be reviewed, if the passengers are inclined to fly at these hours," he noted.

"Around 15 million passengers used Mehrabad Airport in last Iranian year [started on March 21, 2018], while the figure was 18 million passengers in 2017," he added.

The official emphasized that it is also possible that passengers would not accept the long distance to IKIA.

"Total of 29 percent of Iran domestic flights are operated from the Mehrabad Airport, which needs development. In particular, it is planned to expand passenger terminals. Currently, we held negotiations to obtain lands near airport for this purpose," Siavash Amir Mokri said.

As expected, the launch of Salam Terminal at Imam Khomeini International Airport will increase the number passengers to more than 13 million per year. The project started in 2009. As of today, 98 percent of the works have been completed.