Continuation of Iran-China flights; failure to implement a previously announced decision

According to the Islamic Republic's own officials, all flights between Iran and China should have been stopped. But that is not the case. Some report the "autonomous" operation of the aviation organization. Others point to Mahan Airlines' self-interest.

In the ongoing reactions to the outbreak of the new coronavirus, it seems that despite the Iranian Minister of Health's repeated emphasis on canceling all flights to China and vice versa, these flights have not been stopped.

Meanwhile, the contradictory statements of officials and the failure to stop these flights have reached a point where Bahram Parsai, spokesman for the Article 90 Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, has called for Iran's Supreme National Security Council to intervene in the issue of "not stopping flights from China."

According to ISNA, while making this request, Parsai said today, Tuesday, February 4th: "I am warning the government and officials, especially about the arrival of the new coronavirus. Unfortunately, there is no monitoring in this regard and the government does not deal with those who endanger people's health."

This is while Health Minister Masoud Namaki, last Friday, February 1, called for preventing "the entry of any passenger from China by any means (air, land, and sea)" and announced that he had asked Eshaq Jahangiri, the First Vice President of Iran, to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transportation of this issue.

Namaki also wrote on his Twitter account that the return of 70 Iranian students living in Wuhan, the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak in China, was effectively excluded from his request, writing: "With repeated follow-up and support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 70 Iranian students living in Wuhan, China, whose condition we were concerned about, will return to the country in the coming days with appropriate health measures and will be housed in a suitable place under full supervision and care for two weeks to ensure safety."

Last Friday, the government announced the cancellation of direct flights to China, but at the same time, some health ministry officials said that indirect flights had not yet been canceled. However, it seems that the "announcement of suspension of flights" in Iran does not necessarily mean the actual cancellation of flights.

A more powerful subsidiary than the trustee?

Bahram Parsai said today, referring to the announcement of the suspension of flights to China by First Vice President Rouhani, "These flights were supposed to be operated only to bring students and Iranians from China, but we witnessed the establishment of flights to China and Iranian airlines transporting Chinese passengers from other countries in transit. In addition, the meeting that the director of Mahan Airline had with the Chinese ambassador and expressed readiness to continue cooperation with this country shows that the aviation organization does not have control over its subsidiaries."

In addition to criticism of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization, Mahan Air Company's "profiteering" has drawn the most criticism. Parsai says: "We are witnessing Turkey, whose main income is from tourism and a significant portion of the country's tourists are Chinese, canceling all flights to China because of the importance of people's lives, and they will definitely suffer millions of dollars. But in Iran, where tourist exchanges with other countries have been minimized, the manager of an airline announces his readiness to transport Chinese passengers for personal gain, saying that this deal is based on people's health and opportunism."

Last Friday, about an hour after the government announced the decision to suspend flights to China through the health minister, a Mahan Airlines plane flew to a city in that country. After that, Chang Hua, the Chinese ambassador to Iran, posted pictures of his meeting with Mahan Airlines CEO and wrote in a Persian-language Twitter message: “In a meeting with Mr. Arabnejad, the esteemed CEO of Mahan Airlines, he announced his desire to continue cooperation with China.”

"Autonomous" aviation organization

The continued flights of Mahan Airlines to China have sparked widespread criticism, especially on social media, of the company's "profiteering" and prioritizing its "financial interests."

Reports indicate that these flights continued in the following days and were not stopped, contrary to promises made by government officials and the Ministry of Health.

Quds Online news website, citing images published on social media from Turkish airports, wrote: "Chinese people who have not found any flights to return to their country due to flight bans around the world, have come to Turkish airports from all over the world after learning that an Iranian company is still flying to China to return to their country via this Iranian airline!"

Although this news has not been officially confirmed by Iranian officials, the words of the Shiraz representative in the parliament indicate its authenticity. Parsai wrote on Twitter: "Contrary to the government's decision, we are still witnessing the entry of passengers from China into Iran and the transfer of Chinese passengers from other airports around the world by Iranian airlines. Is the aviation organization autonomous and not subordinate to the government? This defiance and recent air accidents show that protecting incompetent managers is more important than people's lives."

The Iranian government's decision to cancel all flights to China was announced last Friday evening. This is while Mahan Airlines had two flights from China to Iran on Saturday morning. Iranian airline officials, however, have said that these two flights were the last flights to China and since Mahan Airlines had previously had these flights to China, the planes should have been returned to Iran. This is while three other flights from China to Iran were registered on Sunday.

“The only company that transits Chinese people through Türkiye”

According to Harmatollah Rafiei, head of the Iranian Travel and Airline Agencies Association: "In addition to direct flights, Chinese transit flights through Iran are still operating."

Referring to the continuation of flights “by one of the Iranian airlines” despite the government’s decision, as well as “the justification of the Civil Aviation Organization for the necessity of establishing these flights in order to transfer Iranians who are still in China,” Mr. Rafiei said yesterday, Monday: “On behalf of the Association of Passenger and Airline Companies, we request that these flights be stopped. These planes belong to the Iranian people, and these days, when we are not hearing good news about the situation of the planes inside the country, it is necessary for the planes of that company to serve Iranian citizens with priority.”

The head of the Iranian Travel and Airline Agencies Association added: "On the other hand, there is news that the Iranian airline is the only company that transits Chinese people from Turkey. If this news is not true, clarification should be provided as soon as possible to reassure people in these sensitive circumstances."

Some officials have also implicitly stated that the reason for the continuation of flights is to return Iranian students from Wuhan and other Iranians living in China to Iran. However, since on the one hand this has not happened in practice and on the other hand the Minister of Health has announced that these people will not be transferred to Iran by regular flight but by special flight with strict health measures, the continuation of air traffic between the two countries raises more questions for the officials.

Continuation of flights until today

Kianoush Jahanpour, the public relations officer for the Ministry of Health, said last Sunday: "The government's decision to suspend flights was announced on Friday evening, and it cannot be expected that this decision will be implemented immediately from Saturday."

Mr. Jahanpour then acknowledged that although all Iran-China flights should have been stopped “ultimately” by Sunday after the government’s approval, “this approval was not implemented in practice and the flights continued.”

If we take these words as a basis, then flights from Iran to China and vice versa should have been stopped from Sunday onwards. But not only did this not happen, but it seems that these flights are continuing to this day. Even in the image published by the “Etidal” news site of flights from Iran on Tuesday, two Mahan flights to Beijing and Guangzhou, China, can still be seen.

Added to this is the public concern about indirect flights from or to China. Iranian officials, however, say they no longer have any influence on this issue. Jahanpour said: “We cannot do anything about indirect flights from China, and if we want to cancel these flights, it would be as if we were imposing sanctions on ourselves.”

Meanwhile, ISNA announced yesterday that flights between the two countries had been resumed. However, the news agency quoted a spokesman for the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization as explaining the reason, writing that “possible flights” to China “will be carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Health to transport Iranians residing in China and Chinese people who are in Iran.”

The contradictory statements of the Islamic Republic's officials and their apparent confusion in decision-making and especially in implementing decisions in the shadow of special financial interests, along with news such as the Shargh newspaper's report on the daily arrival of "around 100 passengers susceptible to coronavirus" in Iran, have fueled public concern about the possibility of the virus entering the country and the delay in responding to it in a timely manner, and have particularly inflamed the social media space.

According to Quds Online: "Despite this, it seems that before getting to the root of the matter, the officials are not going to explain to the public the reason why the airlines are defying the government's decision, under the pretext of returning Iranian students to the country."

“It seems like the decision was made elsewhere.”

Kianoush Jahanpour, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health, announced yesterday that if China-Iran flights are not stopped, the ministry will “enter” the issue. However, it is not clear what the ministry will conclude by entering into an issue that again goes back to the government. The flight controller and potential implementer of the “flight cancellation” resolution is the Civil Aviation Organization, which itself is under the command of the Iranian Ministry of Interior; unless, as the Aftab Yazd newspaper put it: “It seems that the decision was made elsewhere and that air communication with China is to continue.”

While some critics attribute the current turmoil regarding Iran-China flights to the inability of officials to "make decisions on obvious and trivial issues," others, such as the newspaper "Arman Melli," recommend that "Mahan Airlines, which is taking advantage of a "suitable situation to increase revenue or...", should be "prevented."

Referring to the recent meeting of the Chinese ambassador in Tehran with the director of Mahan Airlines, the author of "Arman Melli" asks: "Perhaps in calm conditions this meeting could have been considered, as has been said, a step towards expanding cooperation, but in this tense situation, the meeting aside, why should the Chinese ambassador thank Mahan under these circumstances?"

Mahan Air, which is considered a private company in Iran, is 100% owned by the Mouli Al-Mohadeen Foundation. US sanctions against the company were reimposed after Iran withdrew from the nuclear deal and reimposed US sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Mahan Air is accused by the US of helping the Revolutionary Guard Corps transport weapons to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Even Germany suspended Mahan flights to and from Germany to Tehran a year ago in line with Berlin’s “foreign and security policy.”

Source: DW