A luxurious Iranian plane, which started flying from Tehran to Minsk, only lasted for four round trips
An unusual VIP airliner of the Iranian airline Atlas Air, which appeared in the schedule for only a few weeks, has stopped flying to Minsk. The last flight from Tehran to Minsk took place on September 6, and the flight scheduled for September 13, according to open data, was not operated. Now Minsk has completely disappeared from the list of available destinations on the Atlas booking page, writes Blizko.by.
This flight was reported earlier in mid-August. Atlas Air planned to use a unique McDonnell Douglas MD-87 for flights, the interior of which was converted into a luxury version for only 25 passengers. The seats reclined into full sleeping positions, and the aircraft had a separate negotiation area and private space. All this was intended to create an atmosphere more akin to a five-star hotel than a regular airliner.
The ticket prices were also unusually high. A one-way seat cost approximately $960 to $1220, and a round-trip ticket was up to $2400. However, the exact price in hard currency was difficult to determine due to the specifics of Iranian pricing and high inflation.
The first regular flight Tehran — Minsk was scheduled for August 16. Prior to this, the plane had already flown to Minsk on August 9. Subsequent flights were supposed to operate once a week, on Sundays.
However, these flights never appeared in the seasonal schedule of Minsk National Airport. Moreover, the official PDF schedule was updated twice after the announcement of the new destination.
According to Blizko.by, four flights actually took place in each direction: on August 16, 23, and 30, and also on September 6. From Tehran to Minsk, they operated under numbers IRH6446 / ATS6446, and from Minsk to Tehran — IRH6447 / ATS6447.
These flights were only noticed once on the online flight information display of Minsk National Airport. In the "Airline" column next to flight ATS6446, "Private owners" was indicated. All eight flights, however, could be tracked through open aviation monitoring services.
The next flight was supposed to take place on September 13, but according to available information, it did not. After that, Minsk also disappeared from the list of destinations that can be selected when booking a ticket on the Atlas website.
There is no official information yet on why the flights stopped. However, in the comments to the Iranian airline's Instagram post, one user wrote that they bought a ticket to Istanbul with Atlas but were later forced to pay a huge fine because Mehrabad Airport in Tehran allegedly revoked the airline's license. There is no official confirmation of this information.
A similar incident, by the way, happened with the Georgian airline Sky Georgia in August 2009. At that time, the company operated two flights between Batumi and Minsk as if they were charters, although they were actually regular. Regular flights require appropriate accreditation, which the airline did not have. After that, one of the planned flights did not take place because the Belarusian side refused to accept the aircraft. State media then also reported problems with pilot documents and violations of the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization and Belarusian legislation.
The Telegram channel "OtVinta | Aviation of Belarus" drew attention to another coincidence. On September 8, the US included Atlas Aviation Group, operating under the Atlas Air Plus brand, in its sanctions list as part of broader restrictions against the Iranian aviation sector. The last flight from Tehran to Minsk took place on September 6 — two days before the sanctions were imposed. After this, flights to Minsk disappeared from the airline's route network. Whether these events are related is not yet known.
Comments
Самы даходныя рэйсы на свеце - гэта Табрыз - Тэгеран і Ісфахан - Тэгеран.
Амерыканцы папярэдзілі, што не заплюшчаць вочы.