British Airways resumes direct flights to Iran
Six return flights per week will operate between London Heathrow and Tehran, which BA described as “an important destination”.
The resumption of flights on Thursday followed the lifting of some sanctions against Iran in January and the reopening of the British Embassy in the Iranian capital in 2015, BBC reported.
The then foreign secretary Philip Hammond said at the time that British firms should take advantage of the opportunities that would open up.
British Midland International (BMI) was the last UK airline to fly to Iran, but the service ended in 2012. The first BA plane to Iran, a Boeing 777, departed from Heathrow at 9:10 p.m. Flights were initially due to resume in July but there was a delay in establishing the route.
“The Iranians have been extremely helpful in setting up this important new route and have been as keen as we are for the service to start,” A BA spokeswoman said, according to the Guardian.
“Tehran is an important destination for British Airways and we wanted to ensure that the service we offered met the highest standards our customers rightly expect of us from day one.”
BA offered the first scheduled flights between London and Tehran in 1946.
However, it ended its service – which at the time was provided by franchisee British Mediterranean Airways – in 2007.
The flights were then operated by BMI, but services were suspended in 2012 as part of BMI’s integration into British Airways.
The reinstatement of regular UK flights also came after a long-term deal on Iran’s nuclear program was agreed with six world powers – the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany – in 2015.
Air France resumed Paris-Tehran flights in April after an eight-year break.
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