TEHRAN - The general director of Iran’s Air Traffic Services says Iran has long been known as the gateway bridging the East and the West, and this role has now moved to airspace where you can see the trace of the ancient Silk Road reflected in Iran’s air corridors.

Ebrahim Moradi made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Tehran times in his office.

Below is the text of the interview:

Q. I was motivated to conduct this interview during my recent trip to the western province of Lorestan where I noticed heavy air traffic over my head. I would appreciate if you could explain to the Tehran Times readers that which parts of Iran are currently more important in terms of air traffic?

A. First of all, I would like to appreciate your attention to air traffic controllers (ATCs) which are usually far from the limelight. Regarding your question, I should say that our most crowded airway is from the northwest to the southwest of Iran and backwards.
You and your readers can wake up at 4:30 in the morning and go to “www.flightradar24.com” to visit the density of air traffic in the mentioned area.

The second most crowded airway goes across the country from the east to the west and vice versa.


Q. What factors do you believe have led to an increase in Iran’s air traffic?

A. Frankly speaking, our good services! Many airlines, national and international, all are our customers. We provide them with different services. If the services are not satisfactory, we will lose them for sure.

The second reason which has actually doubled our air traffic is the insecure airspace of other countries like Iraq and Ukraine, leaving the airlines with no option but to choose our airspace which is currently the safest in the Middle East.

And a worldwide increase in the air traffic, including domestic flights, is the third reason for high air traffic in our airspace. International Air Transport Association (IATA) has predicted a 4.9 percent annual growth in air traffic in the Middle East accounting for 42 percent of global passengers. That is while the growth for North American and Europe are predicted to be 3.3 and 2.7 percent respectively. As you see, the share of the Middle East in the air traffic is much more than those of Europe and North Atlantic.


Q. What kinds of impacts have the Ukraine and Middle East crises had on the Iranian airspace?
A. It was about one and a half years ago when the number of flights picking our airways for their flight doubled overnight. We were caught off guard to see a massive influx of airlines calling for the use of our airspace.

Needless to say, our ATCs in Tehran Area Control Center bent over backwards to maintain the safe, orderly and expeditious flow of all the flights without any increase in radar antennas or communication/automation facilities until some new airways were established to reduce the pressure. Also we had to increase our sectors from 7 to 10 at rush hours to reduce the number of flights controlled by each ATC to a manageable degree.


Q. From where do you hire air traffic controllers and where are they trained?

A. As general director of Air Traffic Services, I pride myself in saying that the ATCs working in our country are all Iranian.

The employment process of an ATC is really long and tough. Having passed the Iranian university entrance exam, the students enter Civil Aviation Technology College where they study for four years. After the graduation, they are required to spend about 10 years of in-service training to be qualified as an air traffic controller. In other words, it takes 14 years from the day a person is admitted to the college to when he/she is formally recognized as a competent controller.


Q. Which countries have signed agreement with Iran for the use of its airspace?

A. You’d better ask which country has not! Except one or two countries all other countries from all five continents are using our airspace for their flights. The nationality of the flights is not important for us, what matters most is people’s lives.


Q. What standards are required for the international airlines to use a country’s airspace?

A. Today, the airspace infrastructures are based on similar standards worldwide, and flights need not to follow different requirements when entering a country. Our country is not an exception, and we follow European, the U.S. and other international standards.


Q. How can foreign flights help a country to improve its status in the eye of international organizations?

A. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Iranian airspace today is the safest in the Middle East. Aircrafts from all over the world pass through different countries to reach their destinations, and they compare the air traffic services in each country.

I am glad to say that the pilots from all countries have always been thankful to Iranian ATCs; the messages of appreciation they email us are the best proof for this claim. As a matter of fact, the air traffic services we are supplying reflect how competent and capable our country is compared to neighboring countries which are using foreign ATCs.


Q. How big are the financial incentives generated from international airlines flying through the Iranian airspace?

A. Following the Supreme Leader’s instructions about “resistance economy” and moving away from oil to non-oil incomes, our airspace undoubtedly could be one of the best sources of revenue for our country.

However, we should not be unmindful of the fact that we still need to streamline our services both in terms of software and hardware as well as devising unidirectional and short airways to make it more attractive to our customers who are always looking for the safest and the most expeditious air routes.

Another important issue is that the high traffic we are having now, as mentioned before, is partly due to the beleaguered conditions going on in the neighboring countries. I think the time is ripe for a step change in our aviation infrastructures to avoid losing our clients even after the crisis is resolved in the Middle East.


Q. Did any accident occur in the Iranian Airspace after the recent increase in air traffic?

A. Fortunately, in the history of aviation, Iranian ATCs have never been to blame for any air accident. On the contrary, they have saved “millions and millions of lives” without being ever noticed.


Q. My last question is about the daily challenges you are dealing with as the general director of Air Traffic Services.

A. Thinking about the enormous number of flights using our airspace, thousands of takeoffs and landings in the 54 airports under Air Traffic Services as well as the safety of each flight and each passenger make the job a byword for challenge.

You know the ATC is a high demanding job and considered an “ultra-specialist profession” in ILO 1979. As I explained before, it takes long years of training and a huge amount of money to have an experienced controller. One of my main challenges is to convince the authorities to see the ATC different from other governmental jobs and provide special incentives for ATCs to avert them from being hunted by other countries which have not spent one penny on them.

My second challenge, which I also pointed to earlier, is devising short and unidirectional airways to avoid too many crossings to make the airways shorter and more attractive to our clients. (Editing by Mohammad Ali Saki)