MNA � ICAO head has announced that number of international transit flights over Iran's air zone has increased by 17 per cent in recent days.


Ali Abedzadeh, Head of Iran�s Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), said Islamic Republic of Iran has always played a key role in providing air traffic flow at an international level thanks to its unique geographical location which connects west to east and north to south as well as its safe and secure infrastructure in the field of air navigation.

�Iran marks the linking point of Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Europe and a huge volume of air traffic belonging to these regions, each with its own air navigation and traffic management plan, use the Iranian airspace.�

The official said capacity and commitment of the country to international aviation has turned Iran into a safe and secure pivot point for global air transport especially in cases of emergency.

�Given the crash of a Malaysian flight in Ukraine, insecurity of Iraq and Syria and recent restrictions on Qatari flights, Iran�s airspace has turned into a pivotal point for stabilizing the global air traffic,� noted Abedzadeh.

ICAO head highlighted that despite the unprecedented increase in demands to use the country�s sky, existing potentials and innovative solutions were employed to offer new services and prevent any sort of difficulty in international air traffic.

With the sanctions against Qatar by Saudi Arabia and some other countries, the Persian Gulf littoral state has literally lost access to southern, eastern and western regions; �therefore, flights from Doha International Airport are able to enter Iran�s air zone through two entry and exit points before continuing their trip to Europe, Pakistan or Oman.�

The official, while reporting on a 17-percent increase in the number of flights crossing Iranian airspace in recent days, asserted that responding to the huge volume of demands in a short time proved very difficult though the issue was managed skillfully preventing any halt in the international air traffic.

�Prior experience indicates that, even after emergency situations in the region and neighboring countries settle down, foreign airlines continue using Iran�s airspace for a considerable portion of their flights mainly due to high quality of aviation services in the country,� he stressed.