The Iranian minister of transport, Rostam Qassemi, has appointed Second Brigadier General Shamseddin Farzadipour as the new chief executive officer of IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad).
The minister said he expects Farzadipour, the current commander of aviation operations at the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) air and space force, to draw on his influence and experience in management to lead IranAir out of its financial quagmire. He is also expected to "optimise" the company's structure, including management structures. The appointment has yet to be formalised.
The IRGC is sanctioned by the US as a terrorist organisation, mainly due to the support it allegedly provides to various terrorist networks in the region, including the Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Other steps recently taken by the relatively new Iranian government, which took power in August 2021, include the proposed merger of IranAir's corporate retirement scheme into the National Pension Fund. The ILNA news agency reported that the carrier is unable to meet its pension commitments, with 90% of IranAir's retirement scheme already funded by the government.
