Air TransportIran Again Circumvents Sanctions to Illegally Receive Five Boeing 777-200s
Iran has once again circumvented the ban on receiving Western aircraft after the arrival of five Boeing 777-200ERs in the country in recent days.
As in other similar cases, the jets went through a tortuous process of sale, registration changes, and the clandestine flight.
FlightRadar24 records show that one of the 777s took off from Cambodia and flew to Afghanistan, where its transponder was turned off to avoid tracking.
The five jets had been delivered to Singapore Airlines starting in 2001, where they operated until 2019, after which they were transferred to its Thai subsidiary, NokScoot.
The planes were stored at various airports, awaiting a destination, until they were reactivated in May to be illegally sold to the Iranian government.
Aircraft for Mahan Air
According to reports, the five Boeing 777-200ERs will be transferred to the state-owned Mahan Air, a controversial airline accused by the US of transporting weapons to terrorists.
Mahan Air owned the Boeing 747 seized in Argentina, then in service with a Venezuelan company. The aircraft was later seized by the US and dismantled in Florida.
Iran’s operation of the 777 is unprecedented. The country’s airlines had not received any widebody aircraft of the type before the sanctions, preferring Airbus jets.
In April, two A330-200s, originally ordered by Hong Kong Air, flew from Oman to Tehran to be acquired by Iran Air.
Just like last week, authorities failed to stop the illegal flights.
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Ricardo Meier
Creator of the website that started in 1996 as a magazine. He also writes on Brazilian websites AUTOO, MOTOO and MetrôCPTM.
