IRANAIR BOOSTS CAPACITY BETWEEN TEHRAN & LONDON HEATHROW

Iran Air, the Iranian airline considered a flying museum, is expanding capacity between Tehran, Iran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA) and London, United Kingdom’s Heathrow Airport (LHR). The additional route will add a fourth weekly connection between the two cities.

The new route and schedule

Below is the new weekly route, expected to start on Monday, July 31, and will reoccur each Monday until further notice. All times below are local times:

Flight

From

ETD

To

ETA

IR711

Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA)

13:20

London-Heathrow (LHR)

17:10

IR710

London-Heathrow (LHR)

19:00

Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA)

03:25 +1

However, the current IKA-LHR round trips of Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday will continue. Those flights depart Tehran at 1120 locally and arrive in London at 1510 local time. The return flight leaves London at 1755 to land in Tehran at 0225 the next morning.

Iran Air's 2 Airbus A330-243s will be used

A review of FlightRadar24 data shows that the primary aircraft used is EP-IJA, an Airbus A330-243 with occasional supplements by the other A330 of Iran Air in EP-IJB. According to the ch-aviation.com database, EP-IJA was delivered to Iran Air on March 11, 2017, after being offered to Avianca Brazil but not accepted after its first flight on June 2, 2014.

The other A330 that Iran Air has and occasionally flies the route is EP-IJB. According again to the ch-aviation.com database, this aircraft is almost a half year younger than EP-IJA with a first flight on November 5, 2014, and was delivered on March 25, 2017.

Read more about the Airbus A330

The A330-243 variant of the A330 comes with 206 economy seats and 32 business seats for a total of 238 passenger seats. The aircraft does come with in-flight entertainment and as you can see below, comes with two Rolls-Royce Trent 772B/C-60 turbofan engines that produce 316.3 kN (71,107 lbf) of thrust for take-off.

Worth noting also that the A330 does have a range of 13,450 km or 7,250 NM. With a flight distance of 4,421 km or 2,387 NM to cover – the A330’s range is very helpful considering the sanctions placed on jet fuel and other aviation items due to Iran's foreign policy. In fact, Reuters is reporting today that Ukraine is considering a 50-year sanctions regime against Iran that will include closing off airspace for Iran's regime supplying Russia with drones in Russia's war on Ukraine. Clearly Iran Air faces more difficulties ahead.

Connections between Tehran and Europe

There are other airlines that use Imam Khomeini International Airport besides Iran Air if one needs a flight to Iran from Europe. One can fly Austrian Airlines from Vienna or Lufthansa out of Frankfurt. Iran Air also serves other European destinations such as Frankfurt and Hamburg in Germany plus Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport.

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Connections to Tehran are available from Emirates in Dubai and Turkish Airlines out of Istanbul.

About Imam Khomeini International Airport

Imam Khomeini International Airport is Tehran's primary airport with two parallel runways that are over 13,000 feet or 4,000 meters long. The airport is well served by a 24-hour metro subway, taxis and a highway.

What are your thoughts? Please share with civility in the comments section.

Sources: ch-aviation.com, Reuters

2023-05-29T02:56:06Z dg43tfdfdgfd