LONDON -- British Airways (BA) is to resume direct flights to Tehran, 18 months after operating flights with a stopover in Baku, Azerbaijan.

According to British Mediterranean, which operates the route on BA's behalf, the three-times weekly services will also use larger planes for the flights, when they become direct from March 14.

BA transferred the route to British Mediterranean, a franchise partner, in October 2000, when it introduced the stopover in Baku because the flights to Tehran were loss-making.

A British Mediterranean spokeswoman told IRNA that she was confident that the resumption of direct flights to Tehran would be successful.

"A lot of passengers were put off because of the stopover. Trade between Britain and Iran was also definitely picking up," she said. she also indicated that the airline hoped to capitalize on the huge market of Iranians in the U.S. wanting to travel to Tehran.

The spokeswoman said that British Mediterranean would be using bigger airbrushes on the route, with 31 seat for business passengers and 118 in economy class compared with 22 and 102 on the existing planes used.

When announcing that the route was being transferred to a franchise partner in October 2000, BA said that British Mediterranean has lower overhead costs and already operated other services to Central Asia.