October 10-14
The head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, Ali-Reza Jahangirian, said last week that Western sanctions have done much damage to Iran’s aviation industry. He said the industry needs 300 more planes and is so short that it can fill only half of the public demand. But the very same day, the head of the Airports Authority, Morteza Dehqan, said Iran’s airlines carried 20 million passengers in the first half of the year, the equivalent of almost one of every four Iranians. He said that was a 10 percent increase over the same period last year. No one explained how more passengers could be carried if the industry is being hammered by sanctions.