Iran attracts a few tourists who love to see, and if possible, fly on vintage airliners that have vanished from the skies elsewhere. US sanctions on the sale of airliners containing US-manufactured components make it impossible to sell not just Boeings but also Airbus planes, which rely on engines, avionics and other bits and pieces which are developed and made in the USA.

As a result, the airlines of Iran rely on old models that were flying in Iran before the Islamic Revolution, or which have been smuggled into the country by devious means. A cloak and dagger tale has just unfolded seeing four jumbo jets mysteriously disappear from the skies, only to be detected by satellite imagery in Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport. It’s quite a tale.

Via Aerotime

On December 24, 2022, the four Airbus A340 airliners, formerly flown by Turkish Airlines and recently registered in Burkina Faso, departed for a scheduled flight from South Africa to Uzbekistan. However, as they flew over Iran, the aircraft disappeared from flight tracking services. 

Days later, their presence at Mehrabad International Airport (THR) in Tehran, Iran, was confirmed by satellite imagery. 

An A 340-300 in the livery of Iran’s Mahan Air

Photo credit: Marvin Mutz CC BY-SA 2.0 license

JUST IN: Visual confirmation that the 4x ex-Turkish Airlines (red tail and wing tips) Airbus A340-300 from 🇿🇦Johannesburg arrived to 🇮🇷Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran.

Confirming identification, Sentinel-2 imagery shows that they were only recently parked here. https://t.co/cMNLyHCuhg pic.twitter.com/eyWVF4JZcW

— Gerjon | חריון | غريون | ኼርዮን (@Gerjon_) December 29, 2022

More details from Iran International:

The four A340-300 units – namely MSN 115, 180, 270, and 331 – were formerly operated by Turkish Airlines before their retirement in March and April 2019. The planes were bought by a company from Hong Kong -- AVRO Global – and were later transferred and stored at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg until December. For the past few years, the planes have simply been parked at Johannesburg Airport, and were registered in Guernsey. There was not much sign of activity until recently, when the planes were re-registered in Burkina Faso with new registration codes — XT-AKA, XT-AKB, XT-AKK and XT-ALM. 

The planes started their journeys out of South Africa apparently headed for Uzbekistan but ended up in Iran. The A340s were all produced between 1996 and 2000, so they are 22-26 years old, as are most of the Islamic Republic’s dilapidated passenger fleet, because Iran is not allowed to buy any aircraft due to the US sanctions, which have prohibited companies from selling planes that include US-made parts. 

This obviously presents a major challenge for Iran Air and Mahan Air, the country’s two largest airlines, which operate outdated fleets, as they can only get planes secondhand. Even the planes they get secondhand are largely acquired illegitimately through clandestine transactions to circumvent the sanctions. Rumor has it that these four Airbus A340s were purchased by Mahan Air, which already flies several Airbus A340s, most of which used to fly for Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic back in the day. 

In September, an official of Iran’s air travel services said that the reason behind a lack of plane tickets and high prices are that more than half of the country’s aircraft are grounded. "Most of the planes owned by the airlines are grounded because they need parts and it is impossible to provide them due to the sanctions," he said. He added that only about 120 to 130 airplanes out of about 340 are operational.

The A 340-300 is a fine airplane, but its four engines burn more kerosene than two-engine airliners, including the A 330 that has a similar fuselage and 2 larger, more powerful and fuel-efficient engines. As a result, airlines have been grounding their 340s to save on fuel and engine maintenance costs.  But Iran, which has an absolute shortage of flyable airliners, is happy to have them.  It is widely believed that at least one of four new planes will be cannibalized for spare parts to keep other of Iran’s airliners flying, since those parts are also usually subject to sanctions.