TEHRAN, Iran, Sept. 17
Trend:
Secretary of Iran's Aviation Companies Association Maghsoud Asadi Samani said that the local airlines are still struggling to receive the compensation from the government, related to the coronavirus damages, Trend reports via ISNA.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus and the huge losses of the transportation sector, Iran's National Committee on Combating Coronavirus allocated funds to compensate for the damage done to this sector.
The allocated funds had to be paid out in July, but haven't been so far.
"After several months already, the funds haven't been paid," Samani said, adding that the operating banks asked the airlines to use their owned airplanes as collateral.
"The banks have informed the airlines that if the planes are to be used as collateral, they must be officially registered in the Office of Registration of Documents and Lands which cost $357,000 per plane for airline companies,” he said.
"This is while the planes owned by domestic airlines are officially registered in the Civil Aviation Organization,” he said. “Therefore, according to this law, it is better for banks to act through the CAO rules instead of imposing the exorbitant costs on airlines.”
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 413,100 people have been infected, and 23,808 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 355,800 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain 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.