After US sanctions, travel from Tehran to Dubai takes up to 18 hours — Al Jazeera
After the new round of US sanctions, international air travel from Iran has been significantly restricted: a journey from Tehran to Dubai, which took less than three hours on a direct flight at the end of September, can now take up to 18 hours. The cost of a ticket on this route has risen from $100–200 to more than $1,000.
As Al Jazeera reports, the restrictions intensified after the September 23 deadline for foreign companies servicing Iranian air carriers. The United States imposed sanctions on 27 airlines operating in Iran and threatened secondary sanctions against airports, fuel suppliers, ground-handling companies and other foreign counterparties.
Cancellations and alternative routes
On September 24, a plane traveling from Tehran to Dushanbe was forced to return to the Iranian capital after being denied permission to enter Turkmenistan's airspace. The United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan and Georgia also suspended services for Iranian flights.
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Flights between Iran and Muscat and Baghdad were halted, while some flights to Turkey were canceled. At the end of September, connections with Iraq's Najaf — a popular destination for Shia pilgrimage — were also briefly disrupted. At the same time, routes to Moscow, Najaf, Istanbul, Yerevan and China's Guangzhou continued operating more than three weeks after the sanctions took effect.
Impact on passengers and ticket sales
According to Majid Hosseini-Nejad, founder of the Alibaba Travel Group travel platform, about 20% of flights from Iran to international destinations were suspended. This affected the revenues of flight-booking services and the airlines themselves.
Amir, an Iranian who regularly flies between Iran and Oman on business, said that after the cancellations, every trip between Muscat and Tehran became longer and several times more expensive. On October 11, Iran's Foreign Ministry said its economic affairs department continues to work on facilitating air connections with other countries.
