Lufthansa to follow later

AUA to resume flights to Tehran from Thursday

AUA is resuming its flights to Tehran, which were suspended following the Iranian air attack on Israel.

(Bild: P. Huber)

Austrian Airlines (AUA) will soon resume its flights to Tehran, which were suspended following Iran's air attack on Israel. "We will be flying to Tehran again from May," said an airline spokeswoman on Tuesday in response to an inquiry. The first Austrian Airlines flight to Tehran will take off on Thursday (May 2).

After a detailed safety assessment together with AUA's parent company Lufthansa, "Lufthansa Group Airlines will be able to use Iranian airspace again and resume operations to Tehran," the AUA spokeswoman explained.

Lufthansa to take off at a later date
According to the AUA spokeswoman, Lufthansa is also aiming to resume its flights to and from Tehran as soon as possible. However, due to the distance between Germany and Iran, a short stay with a return flight on the same day is not possible. For safety reasons, the airline does not want to let the crew disembark in Tehran and stay overnight, as would be necessary under labor law due to the length of the flight route. Lufthansa will therefore board the flight directly at a later date with an overnight stay.

Airspace was unsafe due to drone attacks
On April 13, Iran carried out a major attack on Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles. The attack was in response to a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus. Two generals and five other members of the powerful Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) were killed in the Syrian capital at the beginning of April. Since the revolution in Iran in 1979, the USA and Israel have been considered arch-enemies of the Islamic Republic.

Due to the tense situation in the Middle East, AUA also suspended flights to Amman, Erbil and Tel Aviv on April 19 as a "precautionary measure". "Flights to Amman, Erbil and Tel Aviv were already resumed on April 20," the spokeswoman emphasized on Tuesday. "The safety of our crews and passengers is our top priority."