The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Iran’s national carrier, Iran Air, will resume flights on a route connecting Tehran, Kabul and Mashhad starting Oct. 23, the airline’s chief executive said Tuesday.
Taher Abdolhay said the Tehran-Kabul-Mashhad-Tehran service
would resume on Friday, the first day of Aban in the Iranian calendar.
Abdolhay also pointed to rising global fuel prices as a
major economic challenge for airlines, saying higher expenses for fuel,
employee salaries and airport services were putting significant pressure on
their finances.
He said Iran Air was also struggling to collect about $30
million in outstanding payments from foreign airlines, including Gulf Air,
Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Turkish Airlines, for ground handling,
catering and other services.
Abdolhay said U.S. sanctions against Iran and the freezing
of bank accounts had made it impossible for the airline to recover the
payments.
The resumption of the Tehran-Kabul-Mashhad route would
restore a direct air link between Afghanistan and Iran’s capital and
northeastern city of Mashhad.
