BANGKOK, 23 November 2010 – Mahan Air, a private Iranian airline, will begin a non-stop service from its hub in Tehran to Phuket, effective 6 December.
This will be the second scheduled flight from the Middle East to the island, following Qatar Airways’ decision to serve Phuket as an extension of its Kuala Lumpur service, earlier this month.
Initially, Mahan Air will operate the Tehran-Phuket once a week on Monday from Tehran and on Tuesday from Phuket.
http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Mahan-Air1.pngMahan Air says it will increase flights to twice weekly as soon as the required government permissions are obtained.
The carrier will fly the route using a 243-seat Airbus A300-600 aircraft in a two-class configuration. Ex-Tehran, the flight will depart at 2130 and arrive in Phuket 0800 on the following day with a flight time of seven hours. From Phuket, the flight will depart at 2240 and arrive in Tehran 0310 on the following time. Flight time will slightly longer at seven hours and 50 minutes on the home-bound sector.
The carrier currently operates six weekly flights to Bangkok.
According to statistics from the Immigration Bureau, January to September, 136,576 Iranians entered Thailand through all check points an increase of 72.7% over 79,085 during the same period in 2009. About 114,100 were identified as tourists, an increase of 63.3%.
Established in 1991, Mahan Air has a fleet of 32 aircraft and serves Europe, CIS, Far East and the Middle East. More than 1.7 million passengers were carried by Mahan Air during the first six months of this year, an increase of 44% over 2009.
Bron:TTRweekly
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