Middle East Focus: Fear of Flying over Iran: the Toll of Sanctions and Mismanagement………

Arabia Deserta

Fear of Flying over Iran: the Toll of Sanctions and Mismanagement………

“As many as 600 people aboard three different planes owned by Iranian airline companies were endangered when two of the aircraft made emergency landings after the engines caught fire and another ran off the runway, all within a 24-hour period. Iran's aviation industry has a history of fatal technical failures, with 14 fatal civilian and military aviation accidents since 2000, seven of which have taken place during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, according to a previous report by the Los Angeles Times…….. No one was seriously hurt in any of the three incidents, which served as an unsettling reminder of the toll that sanctions and internal corruption has taken on air safety in Iran. Iran says Western sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program have prevented it from buying new aircraft and better parts. But industry insiders have told the Times that mismanagement, nepotism and corruption have allowed airlines to skirt proper maintenance and inspection. Last July, Iran saw two deadly crashes in as many weeks, and earlier this year a Russian-made passenger plan caught fire during landing.………….”

Is it the sanctions or domestic Iranian mismanagement? I believe that it is a combination of both, with more of the blame on the sanctions. After all, there are countries that mismanage their hardware much more than Iran and they don’t have this many incidents. Many of them don’t have the financial resources of Iran
The worst Iranian air disaster was not even caused by either old parts or mismanagement. On 3 July of 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air Airbus passenger liner (Iran Air 655) over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 civilians on board. On December 13 of the same year Pan AM 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, and all 243 civilians on board died.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com