Iranian airline companies ask to lift restriction on sales of plane seats

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.5

Trend:

Association of Iranian Airlines has requested the president to cancel the restriction on sale of passenger seats, Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.

"The restriction that only allows sale of 60 percent of passenger seats was issued by the Health Ministry and caused losses for the Iranian airline companies," said the head of Association of Iranian Airlines Yunes Daghighi.

"Meanwhile the World Health Organization, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) have not recommended to limit the sale of seats," he said.

Daghighi pointed out that the number of domestic flights has reduced by 43 percent and international flights - by 96 percent during first six months of the current Iranian year (started March 20,2020).

"The latest statistics of International Air Transport Association (IATA) indicate the possibility of COVID-19 infection 1 in 27 million passengers," he said.

Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.

The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.