Iran Air to add three more ATR72s - CEO ch-aviation PRO exclusive

Iran Air (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) has taken delivery of five more ATR72-600s ahead of an August 7 reimposition of US economic sanctions on Iran.

The Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development (MRUD) said in a statement on Saturday, August 4, that the addition of EP-ITI (msn 1489), EP-ITJ (msn 1494), EP-ITK (msn 1503), EP-ITL (msn 1504), and EP-ITM (msn 1510) would bring the Iranian carrier's overall fleet of ATR72s-600s to 13 out of the twenty originally ordered. Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows the quintet were collectively positioned from Toulouse Blagnac to Urmieh and then on to Tehran Mehrabad over the course of August 4 and 5.

In June, Avions de Transport Régional chief executive Christian Scherer said the Franco-Italian manufacturer had applied to the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for permission to deliver the turboprops which Iran Air had already paid for and which were awaiting delivery at the time Washington announced its withdrawal from the JCPOA P5+1 nuclear accords.

As previously noted, Washington's renewed embargo...

Royal Jordanian (RJ, Amman Queen Alia), flydubai (FZ, Dubai Int'l), and Kuwait Airways (KU, Kuwait) have all suspended their respective services to Najaf in central Iraq due to the unrest and security situation in the city.

flydubai has said in a statement that its daily flights from Dubai Int'l will remain suspended at least through July 22, 2018, while Royal Jordanian has suspended its 4x weekly service out of Amman Queen Alia "until further notice". Kuwait Airways, which flies to Najaf 2x weekly out of Kuwait, has also stopped the operations until further notice.

Iraqi News has also reported that Iran Air (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) diverted its flights from Najaf to Baghdad.

Najaf has been engulfed in mass protests which at times turned violent for the last few days. The demonstrations against corruption, alleged vote-rigging in May parliamentary elections, and general discontent with the politics in Iraq have started in Iraq's southernmost port and oil industry centre Basrah but have since spread to...