Iran Airtour sale goes to arbitration board for review

The Association of Iranian Airlines (AIA) has petitioned the Iranian government for compensation for the Civil Aviation Organization of Islamic Republic of Iran's (CAO.IRI) 2010 move to ground twenty-three Tu-154s.

In a statement, AIA secretary general Maghsoud Asadi Samani said a request had already been submitted to the Iranian parliament on behalf of the four airlines that were affected by the move - Caspian Airlines, Taban Air, Iran Airtour Airlines, and Kish Air.

Samani added that the move, which had come about after a series of incidents involving the Tupolev Design Bureau trijets in 2009 and 2010 left 168 people dead, had caused significant losses to the affected airlines and that the government had not paid any compensation since 2011.

He added that prior to their grounding, the CAO.IRI had granted each of the affected aircraft Certificates of Airworthiness that were valid through 2020. As such, the four companies suffered significant losses both in terms of market share and financially given they still had to pay off loans on the jets...