Iran Air Tours

Infobox_Airline
airline=Iran Air Tours
logo=
logo_size=150
IATA=B9
ICAO=IRB
callsign=-
parent=Iran Air
founded=1973
headquarters=Tehran, Iran
key_people = * Mahdi Sadeghi (Chairman)
hubs=Mashhad International Airport
focus_cities=Mehrabad International Airport| fleet_size=12 (+10 orders)
destinations=16
website= http://www.iranairtours.ir

Iran Air Tours ( _fa. ایران ایر تور) is an airline based in Tehran, Iran. It is a subsidiary of Iran Air and operates scheduled domestic services and international services in the Middle East, as well as charter services including Europe. Its main base is Mashhad International Airport.cite news |title= Directory: World Airlines |work= Flight International |page= 94 |date= 2007-04-03]

History

The airline was established in 1973 by Iran Air and started scheduled operations in 1990 with services for its domestic tours division.

Destinations

Iran Air Tours operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations (at January 2005): Abadan, Ahwaz, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Isfahan, Khorramabad, Mashad, Rasht, Sari, Shahrekord, Shiraz, Tabriz, Tehran, Urmia, Yazd and Zahedan.

Iran Air Tours also operates these international destinations (February 2008):
** Armenia, Yerevan (Zvartnots International Airport)
** Belarus, Minsk (Minsk International Airport)
** Hungary, Budapest (Budapest Ferihegy International Airport)
** Syria, Damascus (Damascus International Airport)
** Turkey, Istanbul (Atatürk International Airport)
** United Arab Emirates, Dubai (Dubai International Airport)
** Ukraine, Kiev (Boryspil International Airport)

ervices

Their tickets can often be booked through the Iran Air system, which is very useful, being the only widely available (including abroad) airlines reservations system in Iran. They fly only on major domestic routes as well as some Tehran-avoiding point-to-point flights, which can prove very helpful, for example, Mashad–Shiraz.

Iran Air Tours has been responsible for the remarkable build-up of a very extensive route network focused on the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, home to Shi'ite Muslims' holiest shrine.

Incidents and accidents

*April 26, 1992, a Fokker F-27 Friendship 400M belonging to Iran Air Tours and bound for Tehran crashed near Saveh, killing the 39 occupants [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19920426-0&lang=en Aviation Safety Network - 1992 accident] ] .
*February 8, 1993; Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154; Tehran, Iran: The aircraft was departing on a non-scheduled flight from Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran, to Khoram Dareh when it was involved in a midair collision with an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 that was on approach to the same airport. All twelve crew members and 119 passengers were killed. [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19930208-0&lang=en Aviation Safety Network - 1993 accident] ]
*February 12, 2002; Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154; Sefid Kouh mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran: The aircraft hit high ground in the mountains with adverse rain, snow and dense fog at the time of the crash, while descending for Khorramabad. All twelve crew members and 107 passengers were killed. [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20020212-0&lang=en Aviation Safety Network - 2002 accident] ]
*September 1, 2006; Iran Air Tours Tu-154 aircraft traveling from Bandar Abbas with 11 crew and 137 passengers on board has burst into flames upon landing in Mashhad, Iran at 13.45 local time killing 28 of those onboard. [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20060901-0&lang=en Aviation Safety Network - 2006 accident] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5305750.stm BBC News - Scores killed in Iran plane blaze] 1 September 2006]

Fleet

The Iran Air Tours fleet consists of the following aircraft (at October 2008):

ee also

*Iran Air

External links

*en icon fa icon [http://www.iranairtours.ir Iran Air Tours official website]
* [http://www.ch-aviation.ch/aircraft.php?search=set&airline=IRT&al_op=1 Iran Air Tours Fleet]

References