Interestingly, if one looks at the consolidated air traffic footprint of the Gulf, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Russia - Iran Air ranks as the fourth busiest airline in the area (ranked by the number of departure/arrival points).
This puts Iran Air ahead of Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad (the three primary Gulf long haul carriers). Of course, these three long haul carriers have more international destinations, but from a regional standpoint Iran Air is more active.
The next highest ranked Irani carriers in the region, Iran Aseman Airlines and Mahan Air are tied with British Airways and EgyptAir for the number of arrival/departure points in the consolidated area (13 each).
I generated the above rankings from Wikipedia, the airports list out the airlines active and the destinations they travel to from the departure point. The results can be ranked/sorted in Excel.
With that said, it will be interesting to see what the repercussions are with refueling sanctions against the fourth most active civilian carrier of the region.
Below is a meal from Iran Air (The rice is green from Dill).
In first line Persian Gulf is correct not Gulf.
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