Details added after the second paragraph (the first version was posted at 11:29)
The Islamic Republic of Iran Civil Aviation Organization has sent a letter to the travel companies of the country, which contained a ban on the sale of the tickets for the Russian airplanes Tu-154.
The letter says that individuals violating the ban will be held criminally responsible," Fars news agency quotes the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization head Reza Nakhchivani, as saying.
He added that all Iranian airlines must end exploitation of the airplanes Tu-154 until Feb.19. According to Nakhchivani, the airlines owing such airplanes must substitute them for other one.
The ban is due to frequent crashes of Tu-154 airplanes.
A Tu-154 plane belonging to the Iranian airline crashed on Feb.12, 2002. All 119 passengers died as a result. Another Tu-154 plane, which was owned by Caspian Arlines, flying en route from Tehran to Yerevan crashed at the time of the emergency landing on July 15, 2009. 168 people, including 153 passengers, were on board. On Jan.24, 2010, Тu-154 plane, which had first flown from the southern city of Abadan could not land in Mashhad airport due to bad weather and it was forced to land in Isfahan. The plane's tail caught fire at the time of landing. The plane had 150 passengers on board, 42 of who were injured.
Nakhchivani also added that notification letters have been sent to "Iran Air Tour", "Kish Air", "Taban" and "Caspian" airlines. The letter says that deadline for exploitation of the airplanes Tu-154 is Feb.19.