Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Imam Khomeini International Airport (OIIE/IKA) is Iran's principal international gateway, lying some 35 kilometres southwest of central Tehran in Tehran Province. Built on a vast site and equipped with two long paved runways, it handles all of Tehran's international traffic, with domestic flights routed through the older Mehrabad Airport closer to the city.
Imam Khomeini International Airport is the international airport serving Tehran, the capital of Iran, and is operated by the Imam Khomeini Airport City Company. It is a large, modern facility built to relieve the congested Mehrabad Airport, and today acts as the hub for Iran Air, Iran Aseman Airlines, Mahan Air, Meraj Airlines and several other carriers, as well as being served by a small number of Western airlines. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting long-haul destination with substantial hard runways, a full ILS approach and an operational history shaped by revolution, war and international controversy.
The airport lies near Vahnabad, in Tehran Province, about 35 kilometres southwest of the city of Tehran, close to the boundary of Robat Karim and Ray counties. It sits within Iranian controlled airspace as the country's principal international aerodrome; all international flights to and from Tehran are concentrated here, while domestic services use Mehrabad Airport nearer the city centre.
The field has two physical hard-surfaced runways, both lit. Runway 11L/29R measures roughly 13,749 to 13,750 feet in length and is equipped with an ILS on the 29R approach. Runway 11R/29L is somewhat shorter, at approximately 11,686 to 13,407 feet depending on direction. Field elevation is 3,278 feet.
Pilots can expect an ATIS broadcast on 127.2 MHz, with ground movements handled on 121.6 MHz and the tower on 118.7 MHz. An ILS is available for the approach to runway 29R.
Planning for a new Tehran airport began before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when Mehrabad Airport was becoming increasingly congested with the city established as a major regional air traffic centre. The project, originally styled Tehran or Aryamehr International Airport, was designed by the American firm Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton together with the Iranian firm Farman-Farmayan, with construction beginning in 1977 some 35 kilometres southwest of Tehran. The Islamic Revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq War delayed the project for a decade, and runway construction did not resume until 1989. Economic pressures and Iran's international isolation meant the airport remained a lower priority through the early 1990s under President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. From 1995 the French firm Aeroports de Paris became the lead consultant, with the terminal redesigned by architect Paul Andreu, and by 2000 the airport had been renamed in honour of Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic. In 2003 the Turkish-Austrian consortium Tepe-Akfen-Vie (TAV) agreed to operate the terminal and build a second one, investing an initial quinze million US dollars, in a move seen as a symbolic opening of Iran to foreign investment. President Mohammad Khatami inaugurated the airport on 1 February 2004 during the 25th anniversary celebrations of the revolution, with hopes that it would become the largest airport in the Middle East. However, objections were raised over TAV's Turkish links to Israel, and after an Emirates flight from Dubai became the first commercial arrival on 8 May 2004, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forced TAV's staff off the site and closed the airport by driving tanks onto the runway, threatening anti-aircraft fire against further incoming flights. Management passed to Iran Air, and the airport eventually reopened on 30 April 2005 under a consortium of four Iranian carriers, Caspian Airlines, Iran Aseman Airlines, Kish Air and Mahan Air, with the first arrival an Iran Air flight from Dubai; no ceremony marked the reopening given the persistent tensions. Initially the airport served only a handful of Middle Eastern destinations, and by March 2008 all international flights except Hajj and Umrah charters had transferred here from Mehrabad. A second terminal, the Salaam International Terminal, was inaugurated by President Hassan Rouhani in June 2019.
Imam Khomeini International Airport functions as Iran's principal hub for international air travel, with two terminals and two runways spread across a very large site. It is a hub for Iran Air, Iran Aseman Airlines, Mahan Air and Meraj Airlines, among others, with Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines historically providing Western service; most other foreign carriers serving the field are based in Turkey and the Middle East. All of Tehran's international flights are concentrated at this airport, with domestic traffic handled separately at Mehrabad. Flight operations have reportedly been affected by wider regional conflict in recent times.