The British airline British Airways announced that it would stop direct flights to Iran’s capital Tehran at the end of September, as they are not profitable.
The London-Tehran route was resumed in 2016 following the agreement reached by Iran and Western powers in 2015, which led to the lifting of much of the sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Previously, the flights were suspended in October 2012 due to the deterioration of relations between the UK and Iran. Three months ago, however, US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal and began restoring sanctions against Iran.
British Airways, which is owned by the airline group IAG, said its last flight to Tehran would be on September 22 with a return on September 23.
Britain is among the parties to the 2015 agreement. Along with the EU countries, London says it wants to protect companies that continue to work with Iran, but many companies have withdrawn from the country after the US decision.
Meanwhile, the French airline Air France will stop flights to Tehran since September 18, due to its poor commercial profitability linked to US sanctions against Tehran.
The carrier had transferred connections to Tehran to its low-cost subsidiary Joon, but since August 4, the number of flights have fallen from three times a week to one per week.
