Official: Iran's Sky Most Desired Air Transit Route

"The International Air Transport Association (IATA) continues to confirm the desirable quality of Iran's air transit route," Hossein Esfandiari told FNA on Tuesday.

He stressed that security of Iran's air transit route is safeguarded based on global standards, downplaying the US warnings issued after its spy drone was downed over Iran's territories last month.

A US spy drone violated Iranian airspace and was shot down by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force over Iran's territorial waters near the Strait of Hormuz on June 20.

The aircraft that was accompanied by two other US military planes ignored several warnings by Iranians and was targeted after it flew several miles into the Iranian airspace.

The US issued a warning at the time, calling on airlines to reroute from the Iranian airspace.

Iran’s Airports Company (IAC) announced last week that the airlines that had rerouted their flights to keep away from Iranian skies after a NOTAM (notice to airmen) issued by the US are now returning to their conventional routes through Iran’s airspace as they are safer and more economical.

Managing Director of IAC Siavash Amirmakri said on Wednesday that after Iran shot down an intruding American spy drone over its territorial waters, the US issued some NOTAMs which reduced the daily number of flights over Iran from approximately 840 to somewhere around 800.

“But, since last week, the number of flights crossing over Iran is again rising as the fervor ebbed and airline companies found out that Iran’s airspace is still safe,” he added.

“In addition, it is economically better for airline companies to use Iran’s airspace as it reduces the during of flights since the air routes through Iran are much shorter,” Amirmakri highlighted.

He added that the number of daily flights over Iran is expected to increase in the coming days to reach the former number of nearly 840 flights.

“Following the downing of the US drone and the reduction in the number of flights through Iran’s airspace, we did nothing,” he said, underlining that it was the airlines themselves which found out that Iran’s airspace best fits their interests and it is to their own benefit to ignore the US propaganda against Iran.

The official added that Iran is legally suing the US for issuing irrelevant NOTAMs, highlighting that Tehran has filed a complaint at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the case is still open.

Last month, Iran, in a letter to the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFTACA) President and CEO Duncan Auld, assured him of the safety of all international civilian planes passing through Iranian airspace