Introduction
Iran is a great country located in the Middle East, which has a special nature, plenty of historical places and an attractive culture. High security in this country compared to its surrounding countries has made Iran an interesting place for those who want to visit one of the Islamic countries of the Middle East. This country hosts 8 million travelers annually and is one of the three top countries in the Middle East in this field. Millions of domestic trips have been operating in this country, reflecting its high transportation capabilities. Domestic flights in Iran is a way of traveling and have been using several times by travelers.
Iran has a lot of airports and a great number of passengers use these services. Imam Khomeini Airport as the biggest airport in the country operates 240 flights every day. Statistics show that 47 million people travel annually by air transport systems and this number is more than half of the country’s population. In this article, we look at different Iranian airlines, their conditions and characteristics, and also flight reservations and tickets to know them better.
Iranian air flights
The history of Iranian flights goes back a long time ago. The first flight in the sky of Iran performed by foreign pilots until Reza Pahlavi ordered to build the first airport of Iran in 1899. Up to 1942, this airport hosted foreign planes and operated limited flights to transport cargo through oil-rich areas of the country. Finally. The first national airline, “Iranian Airways” was established in this year.
This company belonged to some Iranian merchants and transport passengers as well as freights and operated some flights to Europe.
12 years later, “Persian Air Services” also known as “PAS” was established. This company provided regular flights to London, Paris, Geneva, and Brussels from 1960. In 1962, by combining two Iranian airlines “Iranian Airways” and “PAS”, a new company “Homa” has been established, the oldest airline still operating in Iran.
After the Islamic revolution and the last two decades, many Iranian cities have been equipped with airports. There are currently about 60 airports in Iran which all of them operate at least one domestic flight weekly and most of them also provide foreign flights to passengers. The most important Iranian airports are located in metropolises and tourist cities. 22 airlines are also operating in this vast country. Air transportation is the most widely used way of transportation after land transportation and the number of passengers transporting by air is more than train and ship passengers.
Different kinds of domestic flights in Iran
There are two common types of tickets in Iran: charter ticket and systemic ticket. In this section, we look at these two types of flight.
Systemic flights
Systemic flights are the ones that scheduled by airlines and their schedule are regular. Passengers can buy these tickets from travel agencies. The Price of these tickets is set a fixed amount by government organizations. These schedules are usually completed a few weeks before the flight. And if you have a variable plan, it isn’t a good choice for you. Canceling this type of flight will require you to pay a fine.
Charter flights
When a travel agency or a tourist service office rents all or part of a plane’s seats for a specific time, it is called charter flight and its ticket called charter ticket. In this case, the airlines that its flight seats have been rented is called a chartered, and the travel agency that chartered the flight is called a charterer.
In fact, in charter flights, you are facing the charterer and the airline is only a flight operator. The charterer is responsible for selling, changing or canceling tickets. Since the charterer company has already paid for these seats, they prefer to sell tickets as quickly as possible and under any conditions.
For this reason, these tickets are cheaper than systemic ones but their prices may vary each hour. Charter tickets also have limitations about the number of tickets, cancelation regulations, changing names and dates.
If you want to have a comfortable domestic flight without any concerns about price or date changes, you can contact “VacationToIran” to provide you accurate and exact flight information and ticket reservations without any problem.
Cities with airports
As we mentioned above, there are more than 60 airports in Iran. Tehran in the northern half of Iran, Mashhad in the northeast, Tabriz in the North West, Ahvaz in the southeast, Isfahan in the center and Shiraz in the south, as the major cities of Iran have large airports which provide different domestic flights and easy access to different places of Iran and surrounding countries.
In addition to these cities, centers of other provinces such as Kerman, Uremia, Yazd, Kermanshah, Hamadan, Semnan, Zahedan, Gorgan, Bandar Abbas, Qom, Arak, Ardabil, Rasht and, some other cities all are connected to the air transport network.
You can easily travel from metropolises to far and near provinces. It doesn’t mean you can travel from any city with an airport to another city. But all 60 airports of Iran are connected to Mehr Abad Airport in Tehran. Every week, all the airplanes of the country are moving between these airports and Mehr Abad. Tehran- Mashhad, Tehran- Isfahan, Tehran- Shiraz, Mashhad- Isfahan, Mashhad-Shiraz, shiraz- Isfahan, Tehran-Tabriz, Tabriz- Shiraz, Tehran- Ahvaz, Ahvaz- Mashhad, Shiraz-Ahvaz, Ahvaz- Isfahan are the busiest Iranian airways.
Tehran
Tehran has two airports which one of them is for foreign flights and the other one is for domestic ones. Established in the west of the capital in 1938, Mehr Abad Airport is equipped with “ILS” and “DOR” systems and is one of the oldest and most important airports of Iran.
Imam Khomeini International Airport is another airport in Tehran that provides foreign flights and is one of the most important airports in the Middle East in the field of passenger and freight transportation.
Tehran airports are amongst the most modern airports in Iran and Middleeast and provide you with the best services possible.
Tabriz
International Airport of Tabriz, Shahid Madani, was built in the northwest of Tabriz in 1950 to provide air services to passengers and is one of the busiest airports in Iran for domestic flights.
This airport is the largest in the northwest of Iran and which is of great importance for being located on the air border and corridor of Iran to Europe and Central Asia. In addition to domestic flights, it also operates flights to Istanbul, Turkey and Baku, Azerbaijan.
Shiraz
Shahid Dastgheib Airport of Shiraz is the fourth busiest airport in the country and one of the most equipped airports regarding navigation and electronic facilities. Currently, it is considered one of the safest airports of the country and supports foreign flights to Persian Gulf countries including Emirate, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman as well as domestic flights to Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, and Tabriz.
Mashhad
Shahid Hashemi Nejad Airport of Mashhad is the second airport in the country regarding the number of passengers and the first one regarding flying airplanes. It accepts more than 70 incoming flights every day. After Tehran, Mashhad is the second most accessible city for Domestic flights in Iran, operating flights to more than 40 airports of the country weekly. Mashhad is a tourist center city in Iran and host the many of foreign and domestic flights in Iran.
Isfahan
Isfahan Shahid Beheshti International Airport was built in 1982 to provide better services to travelers and tourists visiting this attractive city and also is one of the oldest airports in the country. Located in the center of Iran, this airport is a bridge between Tehran in the northern half of the country and metropolises such as Shiraz in the south of the country. As well as domestic flights, it operates some foreign flights to Doha, Qatar, and Istanbul, Turkey.
Isfahan as a ancient city has a high number of tourists each mounts, many of them use the Iran domestic flight for travelling to the Isfahan.
Kish
Although Kish is not a big city, it is a tourist island located in the Persian Gulf where there are many domestic flights and most of which are from Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan. There are 13 airlines in Kish providing services to travelers. This island airport is one of the newest and most equipped airports in the country.
The best Iranian airlines
There are 22 airlines in Iran, which provide domestic flights or foreign ones. In this section, we look at these companies.
Mahan Airways
Mahan Airways is the first Iranian private airline established in 1992. The first flight operated by the company was on the Tehran-Kerman-Tehran route. The company owns 54 airplanes which most of them are Boeing.
The company’s domestic flights include from Tehran to Mashhad, Kerman, Bandar Abbas, Zahedan, Sari, Sirjan, Qeshm, Birjand, and Zabol, from Sari and Kerman to Mashhad and Tehran, from Mashhad to Tehran, Sari, Bandar Abbas, Zanjan, Kish and Isfahan and from Bandar Abbas to Mashhad, Tabriz and Tehran and also many foreign flights to Europe and Middle East countries. The head office is located in Tehran and it is one of the most prestigious airlines in Iran.
Aseman Airways
In 1980, four airlines Pars Air, Air Service, Air Taxi and Hoor Aseman combined to form Aseman Airways. In addition to Tehran, this company also has centers in Shiraz and Mashhad which have led to wider coverage of the flight network in Iran. This company owns 33 airplanes and operates daily flights to most of the Iranian cities.
Homa Airways
The company also known as Iran Air is one of the oldest and most prestigious and reliable airlines of Iran. Some people refer to it as the best Iranian airline, due to its very long international flights (e.g. Tehran- New York). This company provides services with 41 airplanes. The most important flights of the company are in Birjand, Bushehr, Gorgan, Isfahan, Ardebil, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Bushehr, Bandar lenge, Kerman, Mashhad, Uremia, Tabriz, Kermanshah, Qeshm, Kish, Lar, Rasht, Yazd, Zahedan, Shiraz, and Sari. Its headquarters is located in Mehrabad airport in Tehran.
How to book Domestic flights in Iran?
You can buy these tickets in several ways. One way is using applications and websites that exclusively sell tickets. Another way is making direct contact with one of the Airline Companies in person or by phone. Right now, because of sanctions and non-functioning of Visa Card and MasterCard or any other credit card in Iran, foreign tourists should go to intermediary agencies to buy tickets. One of the centers that makes it easy for foreign travelers is “Vacation To Iran Company”, where you can get tickets for domestic flights in Iran or ask them to book your foreign tickets on time.
Final word
In this article, we looked at Domestic flights in Iran, different types of tickets and reservations, and different airlines and airports. Although Iran is a beautiful country that attracts many tourists, its busy airways could be annoying for foreign tourists who are not familiar with the conditions of this country. If you want to have a comfortable journey, without any problems like lack of tickets, flight delay, etc., it’s better to contact “Vacation To Iran Company” to provide you daily schedule of flights and to book your tickets in only a few seconds.
VacationtoIran web site offers a wide range of travel services to foreign tourists and you as a foreign tourist can enjoy our fast and reliable services. If you are interested in traveling to the ancient and country of Iran, VacatationtoIran.com is a good choice for you.
