Tuesday 9 May 2017

IRAN: Iranian Airline to Resume Direct Flights From Tehran To Brussels

The Iranian Qeshm Air will resume its flight from Tehran to Brussels and vice versa, airline’s Managing Director Mahmoud Shekarabi announced.

“The move will be considered as a step towards the expansion of tourism relations with Europe,” Shekarabi said in a meeting with Belgian Ambassador to Tehran François Delhaye.

He reiterated that the direct flights between Iran and Belgium will be launched in the near future.

“The aim of launching new air route is to expand Qeshm Air’s flights to Europe, Shekarabi said, adding, “Belgium is a country which is located at the center of Europe and therefore, enjoys a special strategic significance.”

The Belgian ambassador, for his part, said that Iran enjoys high capacities to attract foreign tourists.

“The Belgian people welcome establishment of the direct flights between Brussels and Tehran,” Delhaye said.

He underlined that Tehran-Brussels air route will have positive impact on the development of bilateral relations, specially in the areas of tourism, investment and economy.

In late October, Tehran and Brussels signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to broaden their bilateral ties in economic and trade fields.

The MoU was signed between Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization Mojtaba Khosrotaj and visiting Belgian trade delegation in Tehran.

“The volume of trade exchanges between Iran and Belgium nearly hit $200 million which we hope it would grow due to Belgium’s high potentials,” Khosrotaj said.

He said that the MoU aims to broaden scientific, technological and infrastructural cooperation between Iranian and Belgian firms.

The MoU has made a framework on developing investment and trade cooperation between the two countries.

The visiting Belgian economic-trade delegation comprises 200 representatives of 140 firms; the first economic mission of Belgium in Iran in post-JCPOA era.

Following agreements between Tehran and Baku to expand cooperation in tourism sector, the number of flights made between Iran and Azerbaijan has significantly increased and airlines from both countries intend to significantly increase their number of flights, an Iranian tour operator told Trend.

The Chairman of Iran’s Aysan Parvaz travel agency, Mohsen Dastmalchi said that Iran earned about $1.5 billion in revenue from Azerbaijani visitors in 2015 as around 1.5 million tourists from the north-western neighboring country arrived in the Islamic Republic over the past year.

This is while the number of Iranian tourists arriving in Azerbaijan has also considerably increased, he added.

Iran currently launches nine flights to Azerbaijan on a weekly basis and it is capable of bringing about 1,350 tourists to the neighboring country per week.

In the meantime Azerbaijan’s flag carrier airline known as AZAL (Azerbaijan Airlines) continues its regular flights between the two countries.

Elaborating on the opportunities for cooperation in tourism sector between the two countries, he called on Azerbaijani tourists to visit various Iranian cities particularly the holy city of Mashhad.

Iran’s revenue from tourism over the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 20) amounted to $8 billion.

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