Tehran, Iran, June 21
Trend:
Iran continues to develop its aviation industry by opening a new terminal and looking for new ties with South Asian countries.
Spokesman of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) Reza Jafarzadeh spoke about capacities of new terminal at Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) in an interview with Trend.
"Salam Terminal was inaugurated this week by the president and members of the Ministry of Road and Urban Development. The terminal aims to reduce passenger volume at terminal in IKIA and it has capacity to transport five million passengers per year", he said.
"This Iranian year [started March 21, 2019] the Hajj pilgrims will be flying from the Salam Terminal," he added.
In his words, the development of terminals and flow of tourists will have significant positive effect on the aviation industry.
"Although the imposed sanctions created difficulties in development of Iran aviation, we managed to overcome them by mobilizing domestic capacities. Despite the pressure, Iran air transportation is developing local potential and services for plane repair," he noted.
"The national aviation industry has been developed in the past decades, and this counterbalances the US sanctions", he said. According to him, the US pressure is against international regulations, to which America is committed.
"We can not stop the development of terminals due to claims of one country that banned our airlines", he said referring to cancellation of Mahan Air flights to Germany and other European countries. "There are always other ways for trade cooperation, and we anticipate to conclude bilateral contracts with South Asian countries", he indicated.
"The Civil Aviation Organization is ready to issue permit for new flying routes in line with new contracts and to respond to the intention of airline companies and people to set good will relations with other countries", he said.