Source: RFE/RL
DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan's state-run airline TajikAir has joined other airlines in suspending flights to Tehran due to the devaluation of the Iranian national currency, the rial.
A TajikAir Boeing 737-300 (file photo)
A spokesman for TajikAir said that the next flight to Tehran, which was scheduled for October 13, had been canceled.
It is not clear when the biweekly Dushanbe-Tehran flight will resume.
According to the spokesman, the Tehran airport demands that foreign airlines pay for aviation fuel in hard currencies, while TajikAir tickets are being sold in Iran in rials, which are difficult to convert.
The rial has lost some 30 percent of its value in the last several weeks.
Malaysian discounter AirAsia and British airline BMI have also suspended flights to Tehran due to Iran's currency crisis.
With reporting by Interfax and AFP
Copyright (c) 2012 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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