Iranian airline banned from Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s aviation authority said on Monday it had banned Iran’s Mahan Air from using its airports and air space over safety concerns.


The General Authority for Civil Aviation said it decided to “stop completely permits granted to Iran’s Mahan Air, ban it from landing in the kingdom’s airports or passing through its air space”, according to a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

The authority cited “violations of national regulations related to safety of international carriers”.

Saudi Arabia severed all air links with Iran in January after the two countries cut diplomatic ties following Riyadh’s execution of Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr.

It is not clear when the violations refered to by the Saudi aviation authority were committed.

Mahan Air’s website does not show any scheduled flights to Saudi Arabia.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted civil aviation official Ebrahim Moradi on Tuesday as saying Iranian airlines currently have no flights to Saudi Arabia and would use different routes to fly to Africa.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011 after alleging it aided Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.

(culled from gulfnews.com)