Iran, Russia eye resumption of flights

According to a press release by the Russian agency, in a working meeting of Russian Deputy Transport Ministry, Director of the State Civil Aviation Authority Alexander Neradko with Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali on Saturday, the two sides touched on the steps their counties take to gradually loosen epidemiological restrictions while restarting passenger air travel, TASS reported.

Neradko called Iran-Russia ties and officials’ efforts to increase such relations significant, adding that the coronavirus has mostly affected Russian international flights, especially the airline Aeroflot.

Due to the spread of coronavirus, out of 78 international airports in Russia, only 7 airports in 7 provinces operate international flights, he added, saying that although decisions on the resumption of flights and the lifting of restrictions on international flights will be taken by the Coronavirus Combat and Prevention Headquarter in Russia, the request of the Iranian envoy will be transmitted to the chairman of headquarter.

During the meeting, some technical issues related to the flight of Mahan Airlines on the Tehran-Moscow-Tehran route were discussed and the Head of Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency provided the necessary instructions to solve the problems.