An Iranian commercial aircraft was grounded in Turkey due to a financial dispute. At the time of the bailiffs’ intervention, the passengers were already on board and waiting for the plane to take off.
This is about a Boeing 737 belonging to Caspian Airlines. The bailiffs confiscated the plane directly on the runway, and the passengers and crew were taken off the aircraft and led back to the terminal.
The officials acted on the basis of a court decision and represented the creditor, an aviation services company named ACM Temsil Gözetim. The seizure was due to an unpaid debt of approximately 3 million euros, which the Iranian company owed to the firm.
Caspian Airlines is a state-owned airline company from Tehran. All companies in Iran are facing major financial difficulties and cannot maintain their airplanes, according to hotnews.ro. This situation has been ongoing for decades due to economic sanctions imposed by the USA.
These measures block Iran’s access to spare parts and international banks.
The seizure in Istanbul took place just a few days after new secondary and extensive sanctions from the US came into effect. The American Treasury sanctioned 27 Iranian airline companies.
The new rules block access to the American dollar system for foreign airports, fuel suppliers or ground operators who continue to assist Iranian planes.
For this reason, Iran’s flights were quickly suspended in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. At the same time, major European companies such as Lufthansa or Austrian Airlines have halted their flights to Tehran. Currently, only China, Russia, and Pakistan operate air services.
Turkey has not officially banned Iranian carriers, which is why Caspian Airlines was still operating the route to Istanbul at the time of the seizure, writes the cited source.
Caspian Airlines announced that it has begun the necessary procedures to resolve the issue and return the aircraft stranded in Istanbul to Iran.