IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) plans to return its sole B747 Combi to service in just over a month, CEO Taher Abdolhai said at a press conference on October 19, 2026. On the matter of operational difficulties, he added that sanctions had been taking a toll on the entire aviation sector in Iran for a long time and that IranAir has only six active aircraft.

"IranAir is facing fleet limitations, accumulated debts, and a reduction in international routes, while the return of grounded aircraft and the development of flights depend on the supply of parts, financial resources, and compliance with safety requirements," Abdolhai said, according to a statement on the carrier’s official Telegram channel.

The CEO revealed that the B747-200CM will return to service before the end of the year. “This aircraft has reached the threshold of 20,000 flight cycles and must undergo the necessary repair steps to continue operating, a process that is estimated to take about one-and-a-half to two months,” he said.

IranAir’s only B747 is 38.1-year-old EP-ICD (msn 24134), equipped with GE Aerospace CF6-50E2 engines. It entered the company’s fleet in 2008 and has faced multiple periods of inactivity over parts issues as Iran struggles with US sanctions. It was initially delivered to Martinair (Netherlands) in 1988. IranAir and all of its aircraft, including EP-ICD, have been sanctioned by the US since 2018, but EP-ICD was also listed in 2022 to the United States Department of Commerce’s export restrictions over Russia flights.

According to ch-aviation research, EP-ICD was last active in late September on the Tehran-Tianjin route.

Abdolhai also revealed that 30-40 operational aircraft in Iran were destroyed during the war, while another 70-80 were hit, according to an Iran International report citing Nournews. He added that damage to aircraft varied and that one IranAir aircraft was “completely pulverised”.

Estimates on damage to civilian aircraft have varied since the start of the war. In August, transport minister Farzaneh Sadegh said nearly 100 civilian aircraft in Iran had been damaged since the start of the war with the United States and Israel, while Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi, head of Iran’s parliamentary Civil Commission, put the number at 50 damaged and 10 destroyed.

A321 cannibalisation

Abdolhai stressed that access to parts remains the greatest challenge to Iranian airlines.

“The A321-200 is Homa's most advanced aircraft and one of the most advanced aircraft in the country, but a large quantity of its parts have been taken for use in other aircraft, and this aircraft needs two engines and many parts to return to operations,” the CEO said.

The flag carrier’s sole A321-200 is 9.9-year-old EP-IFA (msn 7418), ch-aviation data shows. It was powered by CFM56-5B3/P engines and ordered by IranAir in 2016. Its arrival was enabled by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) from 2015, with the orders and parts sales halted when the US cancelled export licences granted to Airbus and Boeing.