Too Simplistic’ to Think World is Uniting to Cut Iran’s Overflight Revenues

According to Iran News, An official with Iran Airports Company reacted to a report which indicates US efforts to settle disputes between Qatar and other Persian Gulf countries in a bid to cut Iran’s overflight revenues. “It seems that the US mediation between Qatar and Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with reducing the revenues of the Iranian Airports Company,” Saeed Akbari, a board member of the company told Mehr News Agency on Saturday. “Certainly Persian Gulf countries’ talks on reestablishing ties have so many political and economic aspects that ‘reducing the already low overflights over Iran and related revenue of the company’ will not stand out,” he said. “The view that the world is uniting to reduce revenues of Iranian Airports Company is too simplistic,” Akbari said.

The remarks came as a report by Wall Street Journal indicated that the United States has been pushing to resolve a nearly three-year diplomatic dispute between Qatar and its neighbors by pressing Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to stop their ban on Qatari airlines using their airspace. According to the report, President Donald Trump has personally pressured the Saudi leadership to end the restrictions, which often force Qatari aircraft to use Iranian airspace as their only corridor out of the region.

Akbari said that overflights are currently reaching 150 per day, pointing to an increasing trend in figures. According to analyses, overflights are expected to reach 400 per day in the next two or three months, he said. According to Siavash Amirmokri, managing director of Iran Airports Company, the country earned IRR 17,000 billion (~US$94.4 million) in the year 1397 (March 2018-19). - Iran News Daily