Iran Air is the airline carrying the flag of Iran. Today, Iran Air is one of the best and most experienced airlines in the country. Despite the fact that over the past years, dozens of airline companies have become active in Iran, Iran Air still gets more trust and attention from air travel passengers.
Part of Iran Air’s success and superiority is rooted in its history, which is what we will be focusing on here in this post, especially Iran Air first international flight.
The history of Iran Air goes back many years ago. In January 1946, a group of Iranian businessmen founded the first Iranian airline company named “Iranian Airways”. In the beginning, this company did not have any passenger planes but it didn’t take long for this aviation complex to expand its activities into flying passenger aircraft and add to its number of weekly flights as well as flight routes.
Isfahan, Shiraz, Abadan, Ahvaz, and Bushehr were the cities that were included in the flight route. It wasn’t long before a weekly cargo flight to Europe was added to the airline’s flight schedule as well.
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Arrival of New Planes
With the addition of Douglas DC-3 and Douglas DC-4 aircraft to the Iranian Airways fleet, this company increased the number of its flights and established flights to the cities of Baghdad, Cairo and Beirut. In 1947, the airline made its first flight to Europe via Beirut to Paris.
In 1957, this company purchased Vickers Viscount luxury aircraft from England. This year, Iranian Airways had 10 domestic flight destinations and 14 international ones.
In 1954, another private airline named Pars (Persian Air Service) was established in Tehran. This company started by operating Avro-York planes and cargo flights from Tehran to the cities of Beirut, Brindisi, and Basel through Abadan.
Later this company purchased the Douglas DC-7C aircraft from the Belgian Sabena company and made regular flights from the cities of Abadan and Tehran to Paris, London, Brussels, and Geneva.
Iran Air First International Flight : The Birth of Iran Air
In the winter of 1962, the two Iranian aviation companies decided to merge. This is how, on the 5th of March of the same year, “Iran Air” airline company was born.
In addition to the employees of the two companies, Iran Air also took over their planes and became one of the most powerful fleets of its time in the world. Iran Air was able to become a member of IATA two years after its establishment.
Iran Air First International Flight
The first Iran Air international flight was four years after its establishment, i.e. in 1956, from Tehran to Beirut. The golden era of Iran Air was in the early 50s.
In those days, Iran Air had the latest continental planes and was known as one of the most powerful aviation companies in the world. During those years, Iran Air made more than 30 weekly flights only on the Tehran-London route. The boom and fortune were such that very soon the flight from Tehran to New York was about to happen.
Tehran to New York
This route was the longest non-stop airline in the world with a flight that lasted about 12 hours and 15 minutes and traveled 9,867 kilometers. Iran Air flights from Tehran to New York started from Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport to New York’s John F. Kennedy. These flights started by using Boeing 747 SP planes.
By the late 50s, Iran Air was known as the fastest-growing airline in the world. At the same time, it was considered one of the safest, most modern, and most profitable aviation companies as well.
In 1977, after the Australian company Qantas, Iran Air was named the safest airline in the world.
In 1978, Iran Air purchased 6 Airbus A-300 aircraft for domestic flights and high-traffic routes from the European company Airbus, and thus became the first operator of Airbus aircraft in the Middle East. At the end of this year, Iran Air had daily flights to more than 31 international destinations, from Beijing and Tokyo in the east to New York in the west. At the same time, it was launching new international flights to Los Angeles and Sydney.
Iran Air and the Islamic Revolution
With the Islamic revolution in Iran, heavy sanctions were imposed on various Iranian industries on a global scale. Iran Air was one of these sanctioned Iranian companies. After the nuclear deal in January 2016, Iran’s airlines were able to breathe a little and after nearly forty years, the sanctions were lifted to some extent. Iran Air used this opportunity to buy new planes and renew its fleet.
In order to modernize its fleet, Iran Air ordered the construction of more than 90 airplanes to Airbus in France and 80 airplanes to Boeing in the U.S. This company also reached an agreement with ATR Aircraft Company and ordered the construction of 20 short-range aircraft.
Iran Air – the Oldest Airline Company in Iran
The oldest and best airline company in Iran is by unanimous vote Iran Air. This airline is one of the top five airlines in Iran and has been operating for a long time both on a national and an international level.
One of the primary goals of this air transport company has been to meet the needs of ever-growing air transportation with greater safety and compliance with the standards as the flag carrier airline of its country of origin. To this end, Iran Air has consistently been improving the quality of its air transportation services.
In addition to London, Iran Air has direct flights to other cities such as Moscow, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Ankara, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Cologne, Gothenburg, Milan, Vienna, Hamburg, Beirut, Mumbai, Beijing, Tashkent, Dubai, Damascus, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, and Najaf.
Iran Air is chosen by many travelers because of its direct flights to the mentioned destinations. This airline boasts a fleet including Airbus A300, Airbus A3010, A300-600, Boeing 747, and Dutch Fokker aircraft. In Iran Air, first-class food services are provided to passengers, and the distance between the seats is always well maintained.
Final Word
Iran Air is one of the oldest, the most experienced, and at the same time the most well-known airlines in Iran which carries the country’s flag. The first Iran Air international flight was from Tehran to Beirut in 1956.