Birmingham International Airport has announced today (Monday) that Iranian scheduled airline Mahan Air will commence a twice-weekly scheduled service to Tehran from 2^nd July 2004.  This will be the only non-stop service outside London to the Iranian capital.

The service will operate every Friday and Saturday using a 204-seat Airbus A310 aircraft. From Tehran, Mahan Air offers convenient onward connections to Bangkok and Delhi with waiting times of only two hours between flights.  

Mehdi Bahrami Vice-president Commercial of Mahan Air said, “Tehran provides valuable connections for onward travel to the Indian sub-continent and Thailand, as well as offering a wealth of tourism opportunities for those wishing to discover more about this fascinating country. The direct link from Birmingham will make Iran far more accessible for British travellers and members of the Iranian community living in the UK. I am confident that the new service will prove to be extremely popular”.

Richard Heard, Managing Director, BIA, said, “This is an exciting development for BIA. The service will add a brand new gateway to the Middle East for people in the Midlands and beyond, as well as opening up additional travel options to Bangkok and the Indian sub-continent.”

In welcoming the new service, Helen Phillips, Head of International Trade at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said, "Some £430 million of visible goods are exported directly to Iran from the UK each year. We believe Iran is a big and growing market and attractive to UK businesses providing capital equipment in Iran's priority sectors such as oil & gas; petrochemicals; automotive; power generation; and financial services. We are planning a trade mission to Iran this year and non-stop flights from Birmingham will no doubt encourage Midlands firms in particular to seize the opportunity to take part."

Mahan Air is a private airline based in Kerman, Islamic Republic of Iran and was formed in 1991. It operates a fleet of eight Airbus A300 and A310 aircraft on its international route network which serves 18 destinations in 9 countries in Europe, Far East, the Indian sub-continent and the Persian Gulf. Mahan Air employs some 900 personnel and is a member of IATA.

Since its inauguration, Mahan Air has carried over 4.4 million passengers on its domestic and international routes network. It is expecting to carry more than 1.3 million passengers in 2004.

For more information please contact External Relations, BIA: 0121 767 8024/7074/7374

Hossein Hosseini, Director International Relations at Mahan Air: +9821 4070507-8

BIA is the UK’s second largest airport outside London, handling more than 9 million passengers each year. It is the third largest for charter travel, and the UK’s fifth largest overall.

In May 2003 the Airport was rated 20^th for overall passenger convenience in IATA’s leading survey of the world’s best airports. BIA was the only UK airport to be listed in the analysis of passenger satisfaction. Additionally, in January 2003 the Airport was voted ‘Best Business Terminus’ in the Business Travel World magazine awards.