Iran Air

flag carrier airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Iran Air is an airline based in Iran. It is the flag carrier of Iran, and is owned by the government of Iran.

History

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Iran Air Boeing 747-100

The airline was started in 1944, and was called the Iranian Airways Company. In 1946, the airline made its first flight. It started by flying only to places in Iran, but soon started flights to other countries. It started by flying Douglas DC-3 airplanes. Later, it bought other types of airplanes. By the late 1950s, Iran Air was moving 80,000 people each year.[1]

In 1961, because the government ordered it, Iran Air combined with another Iranian airline, Persian Air Services. This combined company was owned by the government and called United Iranian Airlines, but it changed its name to Iranian National Airlines. The new airline carried about 142,000 people a year, and by the late 1960s carried 403,000 people.[1]

In the early 1970s, the airline bought five Boeing 747s. After the Islamic Revolution, Iran Air was not allowed to buy planes from the United States, but it still bought planes from Airbus. By the mid 2000s, though, the airline was not able to get enough parts to keep its planes flying, and had to stop flying some of them.[1]

During the early 2000s, Iran Air carried about six million people a year, and an airline it owned, Iran Air Tours, carried two million people. Iran Air had 9,000 people working for it, and made about $407.44 million.[1]

Iran Air has the following types of aircraft in its fleet, as of September 2009:[2]

Aircraft Number in fleet Passengers
Boeing 727 4 154-164
Boeing 747 8 (includes one for freight) 301-437
Fokker 100 16 104
Airbus A300 14 (includes two for freight) 253-295
Airbus A310 3 200-215
Airbus A320 3 147

Major crashes

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "IranAir - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on IranAir". Reference for Business. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  2. "IranAir Fleet". Iran Air. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  3. "Navy Missile Downs Iranian Jetliner". The Washington Post. 4 July 1988. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  4. "Scores killed in IranAir passenger plane crash". BBC News Online. 10 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2011.