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Tehran_Imam_Khomeini_International_Airport Latitude and Longitude:

35°24′58″N 051°09′08″E / 35.41611°N 51.15222°E / 35.41611; 51.15222
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Imam Khomeini International Airport

فرودگاه بین‌المللی امام خمینی
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner Government of Iran
OperatorTehran Airport City
Serves Tehran metropolitan area
Location Tehran, Iran
Opened30 April 2005; 18 years ago (2005-04-30)
Hub for
Time zone IRST ( UTC+3:30)
Elevation  AMSL1,007 m / 3,305 ft
Coordinates 35°24′58″N 051°09′08″E / 35.41611°N 51.15222°E / 35.41611; 51.15222
Website ikac.ir
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
11L/29R 4,198 13,773 Asphalt, concrete
11R/29L 4,092 13,425 Asphalt
Statistics (21 March 2018–20 March 2019)
Aircraft movements47,000
Passengers7,270,000
Cargo ( t)142,000

Imam Khomeini International Airport ( IATA: IKA; ICAO: OIIE) (Persian: فرودگاه بین‌المللی امام خمینی) is the primary international airport of Tehran, the capital city of Iran, located 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Tehran. All international flights in Tehran are currently served by this airport, and all domestic flights are served by Mehrabad Airport. IKA ranks third in terms of total passenger traffic in Iran after Mehrabad Airport and Mashhad International Airport. The airport is operated by the Iran Airports Company and is the primary operating base for Iran Air and Mahan Air, as well as an international hub for many smaller Iranian airlines.

The facility covers a total expanse of 13,700 hectares (53 sq.mi/137 sq.km) of airport property, making the airport among the largest in the world in terms of land area. [1]

History

Early planning and construction

The Iranian government decided prior to the 1979 revolution to build a new airport for Tehran. The city was then the centre of the Middle East, and air traffic was increasing quickly at the existing Mehrabad Airport. [2] The new airport was initially called Tehran or Aryamehr International Airport, and the original designers were the American company Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton and the Iranian firm Farman-Farmayan. [2] [3] [4] In 1977, construction began 35 kilometres (22 mi) southwest of Tehran. The revolution and war with Iraq caused delays, and work on the runway recommenced in 1989. Due to the economic impact of the war and Iran's isolation in the international community, President Akbar Rafsanjani focused on other endeavours in the early 1990s. [2] In 1995, the French firm Aéroports de Paris was selected as the primary consultant, and construction of the terminal, which Paul Andreu had redesigned, started. [2] [3] By 2000, the airport had been renamed after Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. [2]

Initial opening

The reformist administration of Mohammad Khatami signed a memorandum of understanding with Tepe-Akfen-Vie (TAV), a Turkish-led consortium, to operate the terminal and construct a second one. [5] [6] The agreement symbolised a shift away from the viewpoint that foreign investment was a form of imperialism. [7] President Khatami inaugurated the airport on 1 February 2004 during celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the revolution. [8] The plan was for Imam Khomeini Airport to handle all international flights to Tehran. [9] The government hoped that Imam Khomeini Airport would become the largest in the Middle East, and the The Washington Post wrote that it was meant to represent Iran's "opening to the world". [2] [7] The Economist Intelligence Unit commented that the Dubai airport already served as a hub in the region and that the new airport was unlikely to overcome existing barriers to tourism such as the government's rigid social rules. [9]

On 8 May 2004, an Emirates flight from Dubai became the first to land. Hours later, however, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) closed the airport by driving tanks onto the runway. [7] [10] It threatened to use anti-aircraft fire against the second incoming flight, which fighter jets escorted to Isfahan. [5] [10] The rest of the flights were diverted to Mehrabad. In addition, TAV's staff were forced to leave the premises with their equipment, and management of the facility was granted to Iran Air. [5] The IRGC and conservatives in parliament said the consortium had done business with Israel, putting Iran's security at risk; the two nations had a hostile relationship. [11] [12] TAV responded that it had not done any business with Israel. [12] According to The Washington Post, the IRGC also opposed TAV's involvement for financial reasons. [7] The debacle soured relations between Iran and Turkey. [13] After the company left, the IRGC said the airport could reopen, but the government decided not to do so until it finished investigating the closure. [5]

Second opening

Mahan Air Airbus A340s parked at IKIA.
The Emirates Airbus A380 saluted by traditional water cannon ceremony In Tehran Int'l Airport, 2014

On 30 April 2005, the $350 million Imam Khomeini Airport reopened under the management of a consortium of four Iranian airlines— Caspian Airlines, Iran Aseman Airlines, Kish Air and Mahan Air. [6] [12] No ceremony was held to mark the occasion due to persistent tensions. The first arrival was an Iran Air flight from Dubai. [6] In the beginning, the airport only had flights to a few Middle Eastern countries. [12] By March 2008, all international flights had relocated from Mehrabad to Imam Khomeini Airport. [14]

Air France, British Airways and KLM resumed service to Tehran in 2016 following the Iran nuclear deal. [15] All three carriers suspended their flights two years later, stating that they were not financially viable. [16] [17] Analysts said the main reason for the airlines' decisions was that the United States had exited the nuclear agreement and decided to reinstate sanctions on Iran. [16] In June 2019, President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated the Salaam International Terminal. [18]

Infrastructure

Imam Khomeini Airport has two terminals: Terminal 1 and the Salaam International Terminal. [18] Terminal 1 is shaped like an arc whose ends merge into the desert horizon. [2] A third terminal called Iranshahr is in the planning phase. [19] There are two runways: [20]

  • 11L/29R: 4,198 by 45 metres (13,773 ft × 148 ft)
  • 11R/29L: 4,092 by 45 metres (13,425 ft × 148 ft)

The first 450 metres (1,480 ft) of 11L/29R are made of concrete, the rest of asphalt. 11R/29L is entirely made of asphalt. [20] An instrument landing system was installed in August 2009. Imam Khomeini Airport was the first in Iran to have one. [21]

In 2015, French corporation AccorHotels opened a Novotel and an Ibis hotel on the airport premises, marking the entry of the first international hotel chain into the Iranian market since the 1979 revolution. The company was motivated by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. [22] [23] Rexan International Airport Hotels has since taken over management of the hotels and renamed them Rexan and Remis, respectively. [24]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Aeroflot Moscow–Sheremetyevo
Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, [25] Sharjah
AnadoluJet Ankara, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Seasonal: İzmir
Ariana Afghan Airlines Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif
Armenia Airways Yerevan
ATA Airlines Baghdad, Istanbul, Najaf, Tbilisi
Seasonal: İzmir
Austrian Airlines Vienna [26]
Azerbaijan Airlines Baku [27]
Caspian Airlines Ankara, Baghdad, Damascus, Istanbul, İzmir, Najaf
Seasonal: Denizli
Cham Wings Airlines Damascus, Latakia
China Southern Airlines Beijing–Daxing, [28] Ürümqi [29]
Conviasa Caracas, Damascus [30]
Corendon Airlines Seasonal Charter: Kayseri
Emirates Dubai–International
Fly Baghdad Baghdad, Najaf
flydubai Dubai–International
Freebird Airlines Seasonal Charter: Adana, Gazipaşa/Alanya
Georgian Wings Tbilisi
Iran Air Baku, Beirut, Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Istanbul, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur–International, [31] [32] Kuwait City, Lahore, London–Heathrow, Milan–Malpensa, Mumbai, Najaf, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rome–Fiumicino, Vienna
Seasonal: Denizli, İzmir, Jeddah, Medina
Iran Airtour Baghdad, Dubai–International, Istanbul, Najaf, Yerevan
Seasonal: Denizli, İzmir
Iran Aseman Airlines Baghdad, Istanbul, Najaf, Tbilisi
Seasonal: Batumi, İzmir
Iraqi Airways Baghdad, Najaf, Sulaimaniyah
Jazeera Airways Kuwait City [33]
Kam Air Kabul, [34] Mazar-i-Sharif
Kish Air Almaty
Seasonal: Najaf
Kuwait Airways Kuwait City
Lufthansa Frankfurt
Mahan Air Aleppo, Ankara, Baghdad, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Beijing–Capital, Beirut, Damascus, Delhi, Dubai–International, Erbil, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Kabul, Kirkuk, [35] Kuala Lumpur–International, [36] Lahore, Latakia, Mazar-i-Sharif, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Moscow–Vnukovo, Najaf, Shanghai–Pudong, Shenzhen (resumes 24 May 2024), [37] Sulaimaniyah [38]
Seasonal: Minsk, Phuket, Saint Petersburg
Meraj Airlines Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, Istanbul, Najaf
Seasonal: Dalaman, Saint Petersburg
Nordwind Airlines Moscow–Sheremetyevo
Seasonal: Saint Petersburg
Oman Air Muscat
Pegasus Airlines Ankara, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Seasonal: Adana, Gazipaşa/Alanya
Qatar Airways Doha
Qeshm Air Almaty, [39] Ankara, Dubai–International, Istanbul, Muscat, Najaf, Tashkent, [40] Tbilisi, Yerevan
Seasonal: Batumi, Denizli, Isparta, İzmir
SalamAir Muscat
Sepehran Airlines Ankara, [41] Baghdad, Muscat, Tbilisi, Yerevan [42]
Somon Air Dushanbe [43]
Taban Air Baghdad, Istanbul, Muscat, Najaf
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
Seasonal: Adana
Varesh Airlines Dushanbe, Muscat, Najaf, Tbilisi, Yerevan
Seasonal: Batumi
Yazd Airways Kabul, Kandahar, [44] Istanbul, [45] Mazar-i-Sharif
Zagros Airlines Baghdad, Najaf, Tashkent, Tbilisi
Seasonal: Batumi

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Lufthansa Cargo [46] Frankfurt
Qatar Airways Cargo [47] Doha, Hong Kong
Turkish Cargo [48] [49] Hanoi, Istanbul

Statistics

In the fiscal year ending on 20 March 2019, the airport handled 7.27 million passengers, making it the third busiest in Iran. It also received 142,000 tonnes of cargo. The number of aircraft movements was 47,000. [50]

Ground transportation

Imam Khomeini International Airport is accessible from Tehran via the Tehran–Qom and Tehran–Saveh freeways. [51] It is also served by a station on Line 1 of the Tehran Metro, which opened in August 2017. [52]

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b c d e f g Dinmore, Guy (12 July 2000). "Tehran counts on airport to turn chapter in history". Financial Times. ProQuest  248934220.
  3. ^ a b "New Tehran airport gears up for opening". MEED Middle East Economic Digest. 45 (50): 17. 14 December 2001. Gale  A81478237.
  4. ^ Stroud, John (1980). Airports of the World. London: Putnam. pp. 172–174. ISBN  9780370300375.
  5. ^ a b c d Denslow, Neil (6 June 2004). "Iranian army closes new airport on opening day". Arabian Business. Archived from the original on 30 March 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
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  9. ^ a b "New international airport opens near Tehran". Economist Intelligence Unit. 17 February 2004. ProQuest  466840202.
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  12. ^ a b c d Halpern, Orly (12 June 2005). "All clear for takeoff at Teheran's 'Zionist-free' airport". The Jerusalem Post. ProQuest  319482419.
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  14. ^ پروازهای خاور دور "هما" به فرودگاه امام منتقل شد، فارس. Gooya News (in Persian). 30 March 2008. Archived from the original on 12 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  15. ^ Wall, Robert (1 September 2016). "British Airways Flights to Iran Set to Resume". The Wall Street Journal. ProQuest  1815640279.
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  17. ^ "Dutch carrier KLM to end Iran flights". USA Today. Associated Press. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
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  27. ^ "Buta Airways August – October 2023 Network – 30JUL23". AeroRoutes. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
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  29. ^ "China Southern Airlines to resume flights to Tehran". Living in Tehran. 5 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  30. ^ "CONVIASA RESUMES SYRIA SERVICE FROM LATE-MAY 2023". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
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  32. ^ https://www.ghatreh.com/news/nn14021238537690331136/%D8%B3%D8%B1%DA%AF%DB%8C%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D9%BE%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D9%87%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%BE%DB%8C%D9%85%D8%A7-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C-%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B2%DB%8C
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External links

Media related to Imam Khomeini International Airport at Wikimedia Commons