Iran Air retires the world's last active B747-100 from revenue service

As the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) epidemic continues to spread to new countries on a daily basis, airlines are cutting capacity to a variety of destinations in an attempt to reduce operating costs as demand plummets. In some countries, national authorities are taking the lead and closing access to and from various markets in order to stem the spread of the virulent virus. A summary of the latest developments can be found listed by country below.

Middle East:

• From February 27, the Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) department has announced the suspension of all flights to and from Iraq and Lebanon until further notice. The CAA also temporarily suspended all flights arriving from Dubai Int'l and Sharjah in the UAE;
• Oman Air (WY, Muscat) has cancelled its flights to Iran. It serves Tehran Imam Khomeini daily from Muscat;
• Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l) will place its Iranian routes on temporary hold, effective from February 26, for an evaluation period of two weeks up to March 14. This will affect...

Lamerd and Asaloyeh in Iran have gained their first international services, after IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) launched 1x weekly flights from each to Doha Hamad Int'l, ch-aviation schedule data research has revealed. The national carrier will utilise its ATR72-600s on the 152-nautical mile (281-kilometre) and 140-nautical mile (259-kilometre) sectors. The airline has also commenced a 2x weekly service from Bandar Abbas to Doha, with all three routes starting in the first week of February.

The new routes come as a result of growing economic and political ties between Iran and Qatar, the Fars news agency said. These improved relations are apparent against the near three-year-old blockade imposed on Qatar by several Arab states in the region, including Saudi Arabia. Iranian businesses have taken a more active role in the Gulf state since the blockade was imposed in June 2017, resulting in a need for more direct air services.

According to the ch-aviation schedules module, the only other scheduled service in Lamerd, located in the country's southwest province of Fars, is a...

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has announced it has removed the temporary ban for Iran/Iraq overflights which had been introduced last month.

The decision to change its advice follows a meeting of the Integrated EU Aviation Security Risk Assessment Group on January 28 to assess the most recent safety and security information for commercial flights over Iran and Iraq. The meeting's outcome has seen the withdrawal of the temporary recommendations issued by EASA and the European Commission on January 8 in which they advised against overflying Iraq, and on January 11, recommended avoiding Iran altogether.

With the latest safety and security information now available, the Group reaffirmed the position stated in the current published Conflict Zone Information Bulletins (CZIB) for overflights of Iran and Iraq airspace. CZIB-2017-04R5 for Iraq advises airlines to avoid overflights of Iraq except in two specific air corridors. CZIB-2020-01R0 for Iran advises against overflights of Iran at levels below 25,000 feet.

Many airlines, including Vietnam Airlines, Emirates and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which transit this part of the...