Imam Khomeini International Airport

Imam Khomeini International Airport (IATA: IKA, ICAO: OIIE) (In Persian: فرودگاه بین‌المللی امام خمینی) is located in Tehran, Iran. The airport is located about 30 kilometers south of the city. It was designed to replace Mehrabad International Airport, which is in the west of the city, now inside the city boundaries. The airport, originally designated as Ahmadabad, is now named after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution in 1979.

History

The construction began before the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The original design was based on Dallas Love Field . The original designers were TAMS, a consortium of US designers. A local joint venture was formed and was called TAMS-AFA to carry out the full design and supervision of construction.

After the Islamic Revolution, the project was abandoned until the government of Iran decided to design and build the airport using local know-how. The French firm ADP was selected to head the local designers and engineering firms. A turn-key design & build contract was awarded to a local construction company, Kayson, to carry out and manage the construction. After two years this contract was abandoned and was awarded to Bonyad Mostazafan & Janbazan (M&J Foundation), a public cartel.

After construction of the main terminal was finished by M&J Foundation, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization decided to turn the management of operations along with the construction of the second terminal to a consortium of Turkish and Austrian companies, TAV.

The original opening was scheduled for February 1, 2004, the onset of the auspicious 'Ten-Day Dawn' (February 1-11) celebrations, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

There were numerous issues surrounding the construction of the airport including the supply of fuel to the new airport, and a delay in signing a deal with the Iranian oil ministry forced a delay in the opening of the airport until May 8, 2004.

Just prior to the opening on May 8, two local airlines refused to switch to the new airport. Economic Hayat-e No daily quoted Ali Abedzadeh, director of semi-privately-owned Iran Aseman Airlines, as saying "We are not flying from an airport run by foreigners".

TAV officials were ordered to withdraw their personnel and equipment from the airport on May 7, and operations were handed over to Iran Air.

"I think they (the military) were given false reports that the Turks were still on the site, while they had all evacuated the airport by Friday," airport manager Hussein Pirouzi said.

However, on May 8, a few hours after the opening of airport, the Revolutionary Guards of the Iranian Armed Forces closed it, citing security fears over the use of foreigners in the running of the airport. Only one Emirates flight from Dubai was allowed to land. The second flight from Dubai, which was an Iran Air flight, was forced to land in Isfahan International Airport, because the Mehrabad Airport didn't allow it to land there after the Imam Khomeini airport was closed by the armed forces. The rest of the flights were diverted to Mehrabad.

On May 11, in a meeting of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, the Turkish expressed uneasiness about the actions of the Iranian military.

The airport reopened on May 13, as deputy head of Iran's Joint Chiefs of Staff Brigadier-General Alireza Afshar stated "because foreign companies will no longer be in charge of the airport's operation, security obstacles are removed."

TAV officials, who had agreed to clear out for two weeks for the dispute to be settled, also stated that they believed the memorandum of understanding they signed with the Iranian government last year to operate the airport's Terminal 1 is still in effect.

Further complicating matters, on April 29 2005, the United Kingdom and Canada warned its citizens against using the airport due to alleged safety concerns concerning the runway, which has been claimed to have been built over ancient qanats (subterranean waterways) [1] [2]. Iranian officials countered these claims by stating that there are no safety issues and that the International Civil Aviation Organisation had inspected and approved the airport.

Airlines and destinations

• Air Arabia (Sharjah)
• Ariana Afghan Airlines (Kabul)
• Armavia (Yerevan)
• Azerbaijan Airlines (Baku)
• Caspian Airlines (Budapest, Dubai, Kiev-Boryspil, Minsk, Yerevan)
• China Southern Airlines (Beijing, Urumqi)
• Emirates (Dubai)
• Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi)
• Gulf Air (Bahrain)
• Iran Air (Ankara, Bahrain, Baku, Doha, Dubai)
• Iraqi Airways (Baghdad)
• Iran Aseman Airlines (Dubai)
• Jazeera Airways (Kuwait)
• Kish Air (Dubai)
• Kuwait Airways (Kuwait)
• Mahan Air (Tehran,Bangkok, Birmingham, Delhi, Dubai, Düsseldorf, Erbil, Lahore, Manchester)
• Pegasus Airlines (Istanbul)
• Qatar Airways (Doha)
• Tajikistan Airlines (Dushanbeh)
• UM Airlines (Kiev-Boryspil)

External links

• A guide to IKA Imam Khomeini Airport
• Official Website
• BBC on closing of airport by the armed forces
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