The Islamic Republic has tried to cover up the EU action by saying that reports that Iran Air would reduce its flights to Europe are false.
The EU took no action against Iran Air‘s routes or schedules, just against its aircraft. Presumably, Iran Air will use the aircraft banned from Europe by the EU on routes to Asian and African destinations and on domestic routes, while reserving the cleared aircraft for European destinations.
The European Commission last Tuesday adopted its 13th update of blacklisted airlines based on safety assessments by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This EU blacklist includes nearly 300 airlines that are either banned from flying into the EU or only able to fly to the EU under certain restrictions.
The commission unanimously agreed that Iran Air’s operations within the EU should be restricted, not banned.
“The carrier will only be allowed to use certain aircraft for flights to Europe,” the EU’s executive arm said.
The restriction applies only to Iran Air, Iran’s state-owned airline. It does not apply to the many private airlines based in Iran.
The EU commission’s report said that “evidence of serious incidents and accidents suffered by the carrier and insufficient oversight from the [Iranian aviation] authority over the past year” have resulted in the EU granting Iran Air limited access to the EU. “The Commission will visit Iran over the next months to verify the oversight of the Iranian civil aviation organization and the safety situation of Iran Air.”
The Mehr news agency reported Monday that 34 of Iran Air’s 67 airplanes have been included in the ban. Neither the EU nor Mehr has reported how planes were selected for the ban.
Iranian officials did not want to acknowledged what the EU had done. For example, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iran’s state news agency, reported falsely the day after the EU action that the EU “has not imposed any new restrictions” on Iran Air flights to Europe. It went on to quote Daryoush Niknam of the Iran Air office in Britain as saying there would be “no changes in flight schedules to European capital cities.”
Later that same day, IRNA carried another story quoting Mohammad-Reza Rajabi of Iran Air’s office in Germany as saying the EU “did not level any specific restrictions or conditions on the number of flights.” But IRNA never reported that half of Iran Air’s planes were barred from European airways.
Established in May 1944, “Iranian Airways” had its first passenger flight soon after World War II. In 1961, “Iranian Airways” and “Pars Airways” merged to form “Iran Air,” which started flying in April 1962.