The number of foreign airliners using Iranian airspace has considerably increased after airline companies shifted their flight routes from Ukraine and Iraq to Iran due to unrests in the two states, a senior aviation official announced on Monday.
"The number of passing flights through Iranian airspace rose by 100 percent last week, while we had estimated (just) a 30-percent increase by the end of the current Iranian year (will end March 20, 2015)," Managing-Director of Iran's Airport Company Mohammad Ilkhani said.
Last month Iran announced preparedness to open its airspace to passing flights after Ukraine closed its airspace following the crash of a Malaysian plane.
A Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing-777 with over 290 people on board crashed in Ukraine, close to the border with Russia, on July 17.
Later reports said the passenger airliners had been shot down by missiles. The shooting down of flight MH17 occurred in rebel-controlled Eastern Ukraine by unknown persons.
According to reports, the ill-fated Flight MH17 which originated from Amsterdam, Netherlands, en route Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, had about 193 Dutch; 43 Malaysians, including 15 crew members; 27 Australians; 12 Indonesians; 10 Britons; four Germans; four Belgians; three Filipinos and one national each from United States, Canada and New Zealand, on board.