Two Iran Aseman Airlines (IAI) flights had to make emergency landings in Iran due to technical issues at Tehran Mehrabad Airport and Ahvaz Airport on Saturday and Sunday due to technical issues.
Speaking to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Sunday evening Seyed Mahdi Razzaz, Director-General of Khuzestan Province airports said flight 833 of Iran Aseman Airlines had to return to Ahvaz from near Arak on its way to Tehran's Mehrabad Airport after noticing technical problems.
According to Razzaz the plane landed without any issues and all passengers are in good health. A flight has been arranged to transfer the passengers to Tehran on Monday, he said.
Another flight by the same airline company from Tehran to Kermanshah in the western province of Kermanshah also had to return to Tehran's Mehrabad Airport on Saturday after the pilot noticed an engine issue.
Iran is suffering from an aging fleet of airliners due to long years of U.S. sanctions that prohibit plane makers to sell aircraft and parts to the Islamic Republic. A brief reprieve from the sanctions in 2016-2017 led to large contracts with Airbus to supply new planes, but the reimposition of U.S. sanctions in 2018 scuttled the deal.
A spokesman of the National Emergency Services, Mojtaba Khaledi, said two passengers were injured during the emergency landing at Mehrabad Airport "due to anxiety".
In a statement on Sunday Iran Aseman Airlines called on all government organizations to avoid making "inexpert and undocumented" comments regarding the causes of the incidents.
Iranian news agencies that have published the statement have not commented on the apparent allegations made by the airline against the unnamed government bodies that according to the airline's statement have expressed "inexpert and undocumented views".
On May 19 the Iranian Parliament said Aseman Airline and the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran were to blame for the crash of the Aseman flight 3704 near Yasuj in Kohkiloyeh and Boyer Ahmad Province on February 18, 2018. The plane crashed into the mountains and killed all 66 onboard.