Iran Air
Iran Air, officially known as The Airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: ????????? ?????? ?????? ?????, romanized: Havâpeymâyi-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân), and previously as The National Airline of Iran (Persian: ????????? ??? ?????, romanized: Havâpeymâyi-ye Melli-ye Irân), is the flag carrier of Iran, which is headquartered at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. As of 2024, it operates scheduled services to 72 destinations in Asia and Europe. Iran Air's main bases are Imam Khomeini International Airport and Mehrabad International Airport, both serving Tehran, the capital of Iran. Domestically, Iran Air is commonly known as Homa (Persian: ???), which is the name of a mythical Persian phoenix or griffin, and also the acronym of Iran National Airlines in the Persian language. The airline's cargo division, Iran Air Cargo, operates scheduled services internationally using one cargo aircraft. The airline has been sanctioned in 2024 by the United States and the European Union for its role in the provision of Iranian weaponry to Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Key facts
History
Early years
Iranian Airways was founded in May 1944 by Reza Afshar and Gholam Ebtehaj. Post-war, its first passenger flight was from Tehran to Mashhad, followed by a Tehran-Esfahan-Shiraz-Bushehr-Abadan-Ahwaz service. In 1946 the airline established service to Cairo, Baghdad, and Tel Aviv, and in April 1947, to Paris. Between 1945 and 1962, the airline became a major domestic carrier, also operating some international flights to Europe each week. The fleet consisted of Douglas DC-3s initially, supplemented by Douglas DC-4 and Vickers Viscount aircraft later on.
In 1954, the privately owned airline Persian Air Services (PAS) was established. PAS initially operated only freight services, followed by passenger operations between Tehran and other major cities in Iran. In 1960, PAS initiated passenger service to several European destinations, including Geneva, Paris, Brussels and London, using Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-7 aircraft leased from Belgium's Sabena airline.
Iranian Airways was nationalized in 1961. On 24 February 1961, Iranian Airways and PAS merged to form the Iran National Airlines Corporation (HOMA), known as Iran Air, using the Homa bird as a symbol. HOMA was a public sector venture that combined the two predecessor air carriers. Among the aircraft used were Avro Yorks, Douglas DC-3s, Douglas DC-6s, and Vickers Viscounts. The carrier became a full member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 1964. Iran Air and South African Airways were the launch customers for the Boeing 747SP.
Rise to global prominence
In 1965, Iran Air took delivery of its first jet aircraft, the Boeing 707 and six Boeing 727-100, followed by the Boeing 737-200 in 1971, three of the stretched Boeing 727-200 in 1974, and three variants of Boeing 747 (one 747-100B, two −200M and four SP), starting in 1978–1979. By the mid-1970s, Iran Air was serving cities in Europe with non-stop and one-stop flights, including over 30 flights a week to London alone.
On 29 May 1971, the Tehran to New York City route was inaugurated, using Boeing 707s making a stop-over at Heathrow Airport. Shortly thereafter, the route was upgraded to a non-stop flight using Boeing 747SPs, making Iran Air the second Middle Eastern carrier (after El Al), to offer non-stop service to New York. With this flight, Iran Air set a new world record in time and distance for a non-stop, scheduled long-haul flight (12 hours and 15 minutes, 9,867 km – 6,131 mi – 5,328 nm). In 1978, the airline acquired six Airbus A300 aircraft for use on its domestic trunk and busy regional routes. By the end of that year, Iran Air was serving 31 international destinations stretching from New York City to Beijing and Tokyo. Plans were made to offer direct services to Los Angeles and to Sydney, for which the airline's long range Boeing 747SP aircraft were ideal. This would have allowed Iran Air to use Tehran as a midway point between East and West, because of its favorable geographical location. Such plans were never realized but they bear considerable resemblance to the hub-and-spoke strategies later adopted by the ME3 carriers and Turkish Airlines.
Lt. Gen. Ali-Mohammad Khademi was the general manager of Iran Air from 1962 to 1978.
The Islamic Revolution
As a result of economic sanctions against Iran, Iran Air was unable to expand or replace its fleet. The airline as such saw little progress during this time as planes had to be parted out. In 1980 the airline changed its official name to Islamic Republic of Iran Airlines and carried 1.7 million passengers that year. The airline had suffered its worst accident to date in the year of 1988 when Iran Air flight 655 was shot down killing 290 people. The last time Iran Air was delivered brand-new Western aircraft prior to the 2016 lifting of nuclear-related sanctions was in 1994 when it received two Airbus A300-B4s in compensation for the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by an American cruiser in 1988.
In 2001, Iran Air purchased six second-hand Airbus A300s from Turkey, but after only two years, all six of them ended up grounded at airports in Tehran, Mashhad and Moscow. This caused significant controversy in Iran where officials cited GE engine design flaw and subsequent overheating as the reason for grounding the planes. One of these six planes was later confirmed to have returned to service by 2010.
As a result of the close ties between Iran and Venezuela, Iran Air launched a route from Tehran to Caracas via Damascus in March 2007. The airline codeshared with Conviasa on the flight, and the passengers included Iranian tourists and Lebanese Venezuelans. The service was costly to operate. Iran Air utilised a Boeing 747SP, which consumed large amounts of fuel. In addition, the company had to restrict the number of passengers on the flight from Damascus to Caracas, as the high altitude and heat prevented the plane from taking off with a full cabin and fuel tanks. Ultimately, Iran Air lost over US$100,000 per flight. In October 2007, it handed the route over to Conviasa.
Its airports
Its main hubs
Airports that list it on their own website
These airports include this airline in the carrier list on their official website.
Other airports in its network
Route network according to OpenFlights (open route database). It may not reflect recent schedule changes.
Data from Wikidata (CC0) · summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
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This page was last updated on September 26, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, September 26). Iran Air. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/iran-air
MLA
“Iran Air.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 26 Sept. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airline/iran-air. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Iran Air.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified September 26, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/iran-air.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Iran Air. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/iran-air (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airline_iran_air,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Iran Air}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-09-26},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/iran-air},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/iran-air}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/iran-air |title=Iran Air |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-09-26 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}Types it operates · 57 aircraft · 13 models
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