Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport

Coordinates: 35°24′58″N 051°09′08″E / 35.41611°N 51.15222°E / 35.41611; 51.15222

Imam Khomeini International Airport فرودگاه بین‌المللی امام خمینی
IATA: IKA – ICAO: OIIE
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Iran Air (2005–2008) AGIR (2008–present)
Serves		Tehran, Iran
Location		Ahmadabad, Iran
Hub for		Iran Air Mahan Air
Elevation AMSL		3,305 ft / 1,007 m
Website		[1]
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
11L/29R	13,772	4,198	Asphalt
11R/29L Closed	13,940	4,249	Asphalt

Imam Khomeini International Airport (IATA: IKA, ICAO: OIIE) (Persian: فرودگاه بین‌المللی امام خمینی) is located in Tehran, Iran. The airport is located about 30 kilometres (19 mi) 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,^{[citation needed]} 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^{[citation needed]}. The original designers were TAMS, a consortium of US designers. A local joint venture was formed and was called TAMS-AFFA, Aziz FarmanFarmaian and Associates, the firm created byAbdol-Aziz Mirza Farmanfarmaian, 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 turnkey design and build contract was awarded to a local general contractor company, Kayson, to carry out and manage the construction. After two years this contract was abandoned and was awarded to a Bonyad, the 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 the TAV (Tepe-Akfen-Vie) consortium of two Turkish (Tepe and Akfen) and an Austrian (Vie) companies.^[1]

The original opening was scheduled for 11 February 2004, the onset of the auspicious "Ten-Day Dawn" (1-11 February) 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 8 May 2004.

Just prior to the opening on 8 May, 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 7 May 2004, and operations were handed over to Iran Air.

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

However, on 8 May, 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 did not 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 11 May, 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 armed forces.

The airport reopened on 13 May, 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.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2005 the $350 million Imam Khomeini International Airport was reopened under the management of a consortium of four local airlines—Mahan Air, Aseman, Caspian Airlines and Kish Air—although no formal contract appeared to have been awarded.^[1]

Further complicating matters, on 29 April 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).^[2][3] Iranian officials countered these claims by stating that there are no safety issues and that the International Civil Aviation Organization had inspected and approved the airport.

The Sepah Pasdaran were announced as temporary operators after Iran Air resigned its post in January 2008. However, the Iranian Government sent a request to IETA for an extension on the Sepah's operation of the airport until August 2009.

Operations

Transfer of flights from Mehrabad

On 26 October 2007, it was announced that as of 28 October 2007 at midnight, all international flights except those bound to and from Damascus, Jeddah and Medina were transferred to the Imam Khomeini International Airport and the IKIA became Tehran's primary international airport. All flights have now been moved to IKA except domestic flights and flights to Saudi Arabia for Hajj and Umrah.^[4]

Instrument Landing System (ILS)

IKA is equiped with the ILS since August 2009. The system was purchased seven years ago but the selling firm refused to set it up due to sanctions against Iran. The ILS was installed by Iranian experts.^[5]

Certification

IKA has obtained the international certificate of Integrated Management System (IMS). IMS includes OHSAS 18001, ISO 14001: 2004 and ISO 9001, which are issued for safety and professional hygiene, protecting the environment and the quality of management respectively.^[6]

Airport tax

Airport tax is collected from Iranian citizens for the amount of 250,000 IRR upon each departure. However, in August 2008, the law on the airport tax was changed for Iranian expatriates, whose passport does not indicate Iran as the domicile and also students studying abroad, to be exempt from paying airport tax.^[7]

Airlines and destinations

Cities with direct passenger airlinks to Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport

Construction and Expansion

IKIA Phase 1 Shy of Rls3 Trillion (US$335 million)

About 3 trillion rials (US$335 million) have been sought for completing Phase 1 of Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA), in the next Iranian year to March 2009, announced managing director of the State Airports Company, Asghar Ketabchi. According to a fax sent to Iran Daily by the company's Information Dissemination Department, if the sum is made available and the same amount is earmarked for the year to March 2010, the first phase of the airport would go into operation in the year to March 2009. He said that constructing the second runway, completing Customs Administrations' and a number of other buildings are among the projects for Phase 1 of IKIA. Presently the airport has the capacity to handle 6.5 million passengers per annum, he said and noted that 3 million people will use the airport by 19 March. Given the eight percent growth in flights, it is estimated that IKIA will have moved five million passengers by March 2009. The newly-built Imam Khomeini International, the largest airport in Iran, sprawls over an area of 13,500 hectares. About 3.2 trillion rials (US$357 million) will be needed to promote the airport to a world-class level.

ADPI has been commissioned for providing a master plan development study, with a first stage of development offering a 26.5 Million Annual Passengers throughput capacity.

Iran to compensate Turkey's TAV

Iran has agreed to pay $5.7 million in compensation to Turkey's TAV Airports Holding TAVHL.IS after its contract to operate Tehran's new airport was scrapped in 2004, an Iranian news agency said. Mehr news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying the cabinet approved a measure requiring the state airports body to pay the $5.7 million to TAV. It was not immediately clear whether the amount was all or part of compensation claims by TAV. Iranian officials could not be contacted immediately to confirm the report. TAV won an 11-year contract in 2003 to operate Terminal One of the city's new international airport and build a second terminal there for about $200 million. But the project fell through after Iranian hardliners opposed allowing a foreign firm to take such a key role. The airport was re-opened under Iranian management. A TAV consortium poured $15 million into the airport but was unceremoniously thrown out on the eve of the first flights in 2004 by hardline Revolutionary Guards.

Accidents and incidents

On 15 December 2007, an Airbus A330-200 belonging to KLM arriving from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol collided with a Lufthansa Airbus 340-300 bound for Frankfurt International Airport. The accident, which took place at 3:00 IRST, caused no casualties but led to the cancellation of the Lufthansa flight.^[9] The aircraft was coming to a stop in front of a passenger boarding bridge when it collided with the wing of the Lufthansa Airbus A340 that was taxiing towards the runway. It was reported that the planes did not sustain severe damage.^[9]

On 4 January 2008, an Iran Air Boeing 747-100B had three of its engines catch fire whilst landing at Imam Khomeini Airport. Heavy snowfall managed to extinguish the fires and the airplane returned to service two days after the incident.

On 15 July 2009, Caspian Airlines Flight 7908, a Tupolev Tu-154 bound for Yerevan, Armenia crashed into a field near the village of Jannat Abad in north-western Iran, 16 minutes after take-off from Imam Khomeini Airport. All 168 passengers and crew were killed.^[10]

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)

External links

• Official Website of Imam Khomeini International Airport
• Airport information for OIIE at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.. Source: DAFIF.
• Airport information for OIIE at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective Oct. 2006).
• Current weather for OIIE at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for IKA at Aviation Safety Network