TEHRAN, Iran, Nov.26
Trend:
Iran's Kish Free Zone Organization (KFZO), Arvand Free Zone Organization (AFZ), and Kish Air signed an Memorandum of understanding (MoU) to launch new Kish-Istanbul-Abadan flights, director of Tourism Development and Cultural Heritage in Kish Free Zone Mahan Modaven told Trend in an interview.
"The flight program is designed to develop international flights and create access to international markets from Kish Island," Modaven said.
"We should establish connection to an international hub in order to prepare the ground for international marketing," he said.
"Dubai was previously an international hub, but considering the current situation which involves VISA and regional issues, Dubai is not efficient for us. There are currently ongoing flights from Kish to Dubai but Kish access to Dubai is not easy, and we needed an easier access to international hub," he said.
Modaven said Istanbul's location is the best one for Iran.
"Working with Istanbul is easier for Iranians and other countries since entry to Istanbul does not require VISA," he said.
"There have been previous experience of Kish-Istanbul flights but flights to international destinations require heavy costs. Usually in such cases, private sector doesn't participate, it doesn't have enough capacity."
"According to the memorandum of understanding, Arvand Free Zone would share the costs with Kish Free Zone to keep the route active," he said.
"The first flight requires the situation with COVID-19 to be stable, so currently the date cannot be set," he said.
"It is expected that there would be two flights per week. There would be a flight from Kish to Istanbul and Istanbul to Abadan in one day, and in another day of the week a flight from Abadan to Istanbul and Istanbul to Kish," he said.