****Mahan Airlines, operating under the name Mahan Air, is a privately owned Iranian airline based in Tehran, Iran. It operates scheduled domestic services and international flights to the Far East, Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. Its main home bases are Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport and Mehrabad International Airport.

History

Early developments

Mahan Air was established in 1991 as a Full-Service Carrier (FSC) and began operations in June 1992 as Iran's first private airline. The name of Mahan is taken from the city of Mahan in Kerman Province. The airline is wholly owned by the Mol-Al-Movahedin Charity Institute. Three Airbus A300B4 passenger aircraft were acquired in 1999, and in 2002 A310s and A320s joined the fleet. According to the British High Court, three 747-400s were unlawfully taken by Mahan Air from their real owner, Blue Sky Airlines, in 2008, using forged bills of sale. When ordered to bring the aircraft back to Europe, Mahan claimed it could not do so because it was being investigated by the Iranian authorities for fraud, and the aircraft had to be kept in Iran. Since 2006 Boeing 747-400s, Airbus A300-600s, Avro RJ-100s, and Airbus A340-600s were gradually acquired. The airline started operations from Tehran to Shanghai in 2011, Guangzhou in 2013, and Beijing in 2014. The airline carried 5.4 million passengers in 2015 with an average load factor of 77%. In mid-2015, it had a fleet of 60 aircraft. It operates scheduled passenger services to international destinations in Europe, the Far East, and the Middle East. Mahan Air has a domestic route network too. The airline commenced Copenhagen and Paris services in the first half of 2016.

Developments since 2011

On 12 December 2011, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced the designation of Mahan Air as a material and transportation supporter of terrorism, "for providing financial, material and technological support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF). Based in Tehran, Mahan Air provides transportation, funds transfers, and personnel travel services to the IRGC-QF." On 6 April 2016, Mahan Air was banned from flying over Saudi Arabian airspace. In 2016, besides Germany and Denmark, Mahan Air started service to Milan and Athens, and to Barcelona the following year. It operated up to 15 weekly flights to China until late 2018. During the Venezuelan presidential crisis, Mahan Air launched their direct Caracas-Tehran route in April 2019. In January 2019, the German government banned Mahan Air from landing in Germany, where it had formerly served Munich Airport and Düsseldorf Airport, citing Mahan's involvement in Syria and security concerns. France imposed the same ban on 25 March 2019, and Mahan Air was forced to cancel its 4-weekly service to Paris. On 1 November 2019, the Italian government also announced that it would ban Mahan Air flights to the country from 15 December 2019. The move came after United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Rome, during which he urged Italian officials to stop allowing Iranian airlines to use Italy's airspace. The remaining destinations within the European Union had been Barcelona and seasonally also Athens and Varna since then. However, in April 2020, the airline lost its traffic rights to Spain as well. According to the BBC, after Iran officially suspended all flights to and from China in 2020, Mahan Air continued flying to China and elsewhere in February and March of that year. The data show that although six flights were used for aid, four others were used to evacuate Iranian citizens from China, and there were a total of 157 additional flights with China from 6 February 2020 to 31 March 2020. Mahan Air was widely blamed for spreading the Covid-19 virus in Iran. In October 2024, The European Union imposed sanctions on Mahan Air for supplying missiles and drones to Russia for the war in Ukraine.

Corporate affairs

Mahan Air is headquartered in Tehran. Its current slogan is "The Spirit of Excellence." Mahan Air loyalty program, called the Mahan Club "Mahan & Miles", includes access to special lounges and dedicated "fast" queues.

Destinations

As of October 2023, Mahan Air operated flights to domestic destinations and international destinations in countries across Asia and Europe. Mahan Air served 45 destinations in 10 countries.

Fleet

Current fleet

, the Mahan Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Historical fleet

Mahan Air has operated the following aircraft types:

Incidents