Tehran international flights drop 42 percent after US ban: tracker

Flights to and from Tehran's main international airport have fallen by nearly half, 42 percent, since a US ban on Iranian airlines, but some popular routes remain, tracking data up to Wednesday shows.

On average 53 daily international flights have operated to and from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport since September 23, when the US ban took effect, compared to a daily average of 91 flights before the ban, according to data from tracking platform FlightRadar24.

Traffic had already fallen after Israeli-American strikes on Iran at the end of February led to the complete closure of its airspace.

Since flights resumed, only Iranian carriers operated services out of Iran.

Pre-ban September data shows that a typical week included services to 18 countries.

Since the ban, flights have completely stopped to Georgia, Oman and Azerbaijan, which normally have regular service to Tehran.

On other routes, traffic has been greatly reduced.

Three flights in each direction operated between Tehran and Dubai on September 23, but none have operated since and the United Arab Emirates has said it is enforcing the US ban.

No flights have taken off between Iraq and Tehran since September 25 but Iraq's transport ministry said on Tuesday that the US has given permission for its national carrier to operate flights between the holy city of Najaf and Iran.

They are set to start in October.

- Routes still open -

Some of the busiest routes to and from Tehran have been maintained despite the ban.

Flights to and from China have stayed the same at 8 flights per day on average.

Flights between Turkey and Tehran, by far the busiest route from Imam Khomeini airport have fallen by only 19 percent.

Despite this, passengers told AFP earlier this week that air traffic between Iran and Turkey has been heavily disrupted.

Mahan Air, one of Iran's main airlines has not operated any flights to Turkey since September 20.

By contrast, some airlines have increased their flights between Tehran and Turkey since the ban came into effect, such as Caspian Airlines.

Other countries where flights have continued since the ban are Armenia, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Thailand, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Qatar, in order of flight frequency.

The analysis may have excluded some flights that could not be reliably tracked, including those with unavailable transponder signals or for which departure or landing times could not be established.