Flydubai to Fly to Five More Iranian Cities

The UAE-based flydubai Airline announced today that it will begin passenger service to five more destinations in Iran: Shiraz, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Hamadan and Tabriz. The airliner already flies to Tehran and Mashhad. Flydubai said today it will have business class cabins in all its flights to Iran.

The flights to Shiraz, Isfahan and Ahvaz will start on 8, 11 and 14 March respectively, with Hamadan and Tabriz joining the fludubai network on 16 March. Fludubai has 44 Boeing 737-800 in service, with 91 additional Boeing 737 MAX 8 on order. (Al Arabiya, 17 February)

Flydubai is starting its new Iranian destinations days before the 21 March Persian New Year, when thousands of Iranian tourists fly to Dubai to attend new-year celebration concerts, which are banned inside Iran. In the long term, flydubai’s service to seven major destinations in Iran could seriously damage the businesses of Iranian airliners which fly the same routes with much older planes.

Photo credit: flydubai aircraft at Dubai Airport (flydubai/Al-Arabiya) 

Civilian Aircraft Hit While Landing at Baghdad Airport

UAE Airlines Cancel Flights to BIAP

Flydubai Boeing 737-8KN (A6-FEK), on flight FZ-215 from Dubai to Baghdad, was hit by three rounds of shots while landing at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) on Tuesday. The UAE-based airliner, carrying 154 passengers, landed safely, but three passengers received "light injuries." Flydubai said its aircraft also suffered damage to the fuselage “consistent with small arms fire.”

BIAP is located west of the capital, near strongholds of ISIL insurgents in Anbar province.

Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia as well as Flydubai have suspended all their flights to Baghdad.

UPDATE: Foreign flights into Baghdad were cancelled on Tuesday after shots were fired at flydubai flight FZ-215.

File photo: Flydubai Boeing 737-8KN, A6-FEK, the aircraft that was hit while landing in Baghdad, in a file photo during its delivery flight; 5 January 2014, Birmingham (Birmingham Airport Photo Blog) 

Flydubai Plane Chartered by U.S. Military Diverted to Bandar Abbas

UPDATE: Flydubai plane leaves Bandar Abbas - Lands in Dubai

A UAE commercial aircraft, Flydubai, chartered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan for a flight to Dubai, carrying 110 American citizens and 30 other passengers and crew, was diverted to land in Bandar Abbas, Iran on Friday, reportedly because of a mix-up over its flight plan. The plane was flying from Bagram airfield north of Kabul to Dubai. The normal flight path goes through Iranian airspace. (AP, 5 September)

An American official told AP that the Iranians radioed the plane's crew to say they did not have the proper paperwork and to return to Bagram. The pilots said they did not have enough fuel to return so the Iranian authorities told them to land in Bandar Abbas. It was not immediately clear why the plane could not go to Dubai if it could have returned to Bagram.

A senior State Department official said the issue appeared to have been resolved after the plane landed at Bandar Abbas and officials believed the plane would be cleared to resume its journey.

UPDATE: Flydubai announced that the plane was permitted to leave Bandar Abbas at 03:15 AM Saturday local time (6:45 pm Friday EST) and was en route to Dubai. 

UPDATE: The plane landed in Dubai at 04:00 AM Saturday local time (8:00 pm Friday EST).

File photo: A flydubai Boeing 737-8KN (Boeing/airliners.net)

Flydubai launches flights this week to Iran

Above: Newly manufactured Boeing 737-8KN during flight trials last February and delivered to Dubai a week later

Photo: Josh Kaiser / Location: Boeing Field / King County International (BFI / KBFI)

According to Gulf Business:

Dubai-based low-cost carrier flydubai has announced that it will launch four flights a week to Iran starting August. Flights to Iranian capital Tehran will begin on August 10, while flights to Mashhad will start from August 10.

[…]

Flydubai will be the only carrier to offer business class from Dubai to Mashhad. The carrier further plans to expand its network in the Iranian market, it said in a statement.

“Flydubai’s foray into Iran is as much of a coup as it is a huge opportunity,” said Saj Ahmad, aviation analyst at StrategicAero Research.

“Given the inherent cultural and economic trade links that Dubai has with Iran, services to the capital Tehran and also Mashhad will further boost those ties – and with Iranian carriers struggling under the weight of old airplanes and sanctions, this is a market that flydubai can arguably dominate and expand with ease.”

The carrier’s cargo arm will also gain leverage through the move, he said.

[…]

The carrier took delivery of three new Boeing 737-800s in July, and now has a fleet of 39 aircraft with more than 100 new Boeing aircraft on order.

It began services to Kandahar in July and Aden at the beginning of August and is set to commence flights to Moscow and Kazakhstan in September, Mumbai in October and to Sarajevo and Zagreb in December.

COMMENTARY: Contrary to all the negative reporting concerning Iran's economy, Mashhad is experiencing a construction and religious tourism boom. There are many large-scale tourism and shopping related developments in progress, with no detectable evidence of slowdown (see below). No doubt, the leadership of this new Dubai-based airline seeks to take advantage of these business opportunities, that here in the West go unreported or unconsidered due to sanctions.

Gigantic “Shandiz Holiday and Recreation Complex” taking shape at a fast rate of construction in Mashhad (click to enlarge)