Arrest Warrant Issued for CEO of Aseman Airlines

An official from Iran's Airports and Air Navigation Company announced that a judicial arrest warrant has been issued for the CEO of Aseman Airlines due to the airline's failure to pay its debts. According to reports from ISNA and Mehr news agencies, Gholamhossein Bagherian stated on Wednesday, June 22, that despite multiple meetings and necessary warnings, some airlines have not paid their dues to the Airports Company and have disregarded 'warnings and ultimatums issued... regarding the use of judicial measures.' He identified Aseman Airlines as one of the indebted companies that has refused to settle its debts, leading the Airports Company to 'take action to obtain an arrest warrant for the CEO of Aseman Airlines.' He mentioned that 'the Airports and Air Navigation Company of Iran is currently owed more than 700 billion tomans by airlines.' According to Mr. Bagherian, Aseman Airlines' debt constitutes 'about 20 percent of the total 700 billion tomans owed by the companies,' amounting to '140 billion tomans.' Brigadier General Hossein Alaei, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has been the CEO of Aseman Airlines since 2013. Aseman Airlines was formed in 1980 from the merger of four airlines: Air Taxi, Pars Air, Air Service, and Hoor Aseman, and was transferred to the National Retirement Fund in 2002. The Aseman Airlines website states that it operates regular flights to 40 domestic cities and 13 foreign countries with 33 aircraft. Gholamhossein Bagherian, a board member of the Airports and Air Navigation Company, had also stated in May that the cases of four airlines had become judicial, with two of the airlines being inactive and both Iran Air and Aseman still not having paid their debts. Previously, Masoud Asadi Samani, the secretary of the Association of Airlines, had reported that Mahan Airlines is also among those airlines that have not settled their debts. He stated that a significant portion of the airlines' debts arose from an increase in the Airports Company's tariffs without informing the airlines in early 2012. Airlines faced an increase of more than five times in airport service tariffs, leading to a sudden rise in debts. Mr. Asadi Samani accused the Airports and Air Navigation Company of 'in some airports, occasionally closing flight counters or not cooperating with airline personnel due to unpaid debts.' However, Gholamhossein Bagherian denied this in his statements on Wednesday, saying, 'Since the Airports and Air Navigation Company of Iran did not intend to cause any problems for air passengers, it continued to engage with airlines to settle their debts and even aimed to reduce airport costs for these companies.' He noted that 'the liberalization of airline ticket prices' has led to an increase in airline revenues 'by up to 20 percent,' stating, 'Despite the reduction in airport costs and the increase in airline revenues, some of these companies have refused to pay their debts.' Some reports indicate that Iranian airlines, in addition to the 700 billion tomans owed to the Airports Company, owe over 1 trillion tomans to the National Iranian Oil Company for fuel, and the eleventh government has recently approved the restructuring of these debts with various sectors.