Tehran, Iran, May 13
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Airplanes' fuel consumption in Iran is twice the figure of the world's average.
Farhad Parvresh, the managing director of Iran's national air carrier, Iran Air (Homa), said on May 13 that the global average fuel consumption of airplanes is around 20-22 liter per passenger-hour, Iran's ISNA News Agency reported on May 13.
"Iran's consumption, however, is around 40 liters per passenger-hour," he said, blaming the country's old air fleet for the high consumption rate.
"Based on international reports, fuel prices account for 17 to 18 percent of an airlines' cost, but the figure is around 24 percent in Iran," he explained.
He went on to note that increasing fuel prices by 25 percent in Iran was a reasonable decision.
Iran plans to increase the number of its aircrafts up to 550 by the year of 2025.
The Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi said on Sept. 11 that the situation of Iran's aviation industry is not satisfactory.
"The country's air fleet is old which raises safety concerns," the Tasnim News Agency quoted Akhoundi as saying.
"The customers are not satisfied with the services the domestic airlines provide," he added.
He went on to note that old airplanes consume more fuel compared to the new ones; therefore new aircraft are economically justified.
The Managing Director of Iran Airtour Airline Sirous Baheri said on Sept. 1 that over 60 percent of Iran's total 220 airplanes are grounded due to technical and logistic issues.
Iranian airline' air fleet is on average 22 years old, the ISNA News Agency reported.