The Return of the Oldest Airline in the World to Iran

Following the nuclear agreement, many airlines that had suspended flights to Iran are now returning. In the latest case, KLM, the oldest active airline in the world, has returned to Iran. Rene de Groot, the Chief Operating Officer of KLM, stated at a press conference in Tehran: "We are happy to have returned to Tehran. This return was not an easy task and we went through a long process; we aim to be the best airline in Europe in customer satisfaction. Therefore, we have made changes in the past few months that have yielded positive results. This year, 14 new destinations have been added to KLM's flight routes, the latest of which is Tehran. Two weeks ago, KLM celebrated its 97th anniversary. A part of this rich history includes cooperation with Tehran. We had flights to Tehran from 1948 until three years ago, for a total of 65 years." According to Wilmer Blam, the Vice President of KLM, there will be four direct flights per week between Tehran and Amsterdam. A Boeing 777-200 aircraft with a capacity of 316 passengers will operate on this route. The seats on this aircraft are available in three classes: Business, Economy Comfort, and Economy Plus, catering to various types of travelers. Blam, in response to a question about whether KLM's presence in Iran is economically viable despite the return of other airlines, said: "Although many airlines have entered the Iranian market, the reality is that the Iranian market is rapidly developing after the lifting of sanctions. Therefore, we are not overly concerned about the presence of other competitors." Gilles Rocher, the CEO of KLM for the Gulf region, also mentioned the collaboration between KLM and Air France, stating: "There is a travel capacity of over 2,000 passengers per week through four KLM flights and three Air France flights from Tehran to Europe." The first signs of the success of the nuclear negotiations are the increased presence of foreign airlines in Iran. Following the negotiations, companies such as Air France, British Airways, Austrian Airlines, AirAsia, and Thai Airways resumed operations in Iranian airspace, to the extent that Imam Airport officially announced it is currently hosting 57 different domestic and foreign airlines. The latest company to join its European partners in Tehran is KLM, which is considered the oldest active airline in the world and is ready to test its luck in Tehran once again after about three years of interruption. This airline was established in 1919 and conducted its first flight from London to Amsterdam in 1920. The Dutch airline, which has announced 37 weekly flights to nine destinations in the Middle East, operates as part of a joint group with Air France and is among the largest airlines in Western Europe. The latest statistics on KLM's fleet indicate that the company has 119 active passenger aircraft and has ordered 22 new aircraft. KLM, along with Air France and Lufthansa, is one of the busiest airlines that transit passengers between Iran and the United States. Before the sanctions were imposed, KLM transported one of the highest numbers of passengers between Iran and the U.S. After the sanctions were implemented and with the reduction and suspension of flights by European airlines to Iran, alongside the diminished capacity of Iran Air, flights by Turkish and Arab airlines to Iran increased significantly. Among these companies, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Emirates had the highest number of flights to Iran. Most passengers intending to travel to Europe and the U.S. used these airlines for transit flights. After Mahan Airlines purchased eight Airbus A340 aircraft, some of this passenger traffic shifted to Mahan, but Turkish and Arab airlines still maintained their advantage. According to the Iranian Ministry of Roads, over three billion dollars annually from transporting Iranian passengers abroad goes to foreign companies. Abbas Akhoundi, the Minister of Roads and Urban Development, stated: "The aviation organization estimates that from 2011 to 2014, over 12 billion dollars were spent by Iranians on tickets from foreign airlines. The estimate by the Islamic Republic Airlines (Homa) is that Iranians spend four billion dollars annually on flights from various parts of the world to Iran and vice versa, while the share of Gulf South airlines in flights in this region is 88 million passengers per year, and Homa's share is only 4.6 million passengers, equivalent to one-twentieth of the passenger transport compared to Gulf South airlines. We need to overturn this equation and return to increasing our share of the global value-added chain. The purchase of aircraft for Iranian airlines is also in this direction so that we can have a share of the global trade value chain in the aviation industry. Unfortunately, some have given this share to Turkish and Emirati airlines with a series of slogans and mismanagement, and Iranian airlines have faced these problems. With the arrival of new aircraft in Iran's aviation fleet, there will no longer be a need for Iranians to resort to foreign airlines for flights to various parts of the world. Moreover, the amount of employment that will be directly created in the aviation industry and its related industries and the tourism industry will be of great interest to the youth of Iran.