The Association of Air Travel Offices in Tehran has asked the government not to have direct flights from Tehran to Antalya.
Amir Pouyan Rafiee Shad, the chairman of the board of the Association of Air Travel and Tourism Offices of Tehran Province, said about the lack of Iranian planes stopping in Antalya, that this issue goes back to the regulations of the Civil Aviation Organization. This happened exactly four governments ago, meaning before Mr. Rouhani’s administration, when such a directive was issued that there should be no direct flights to Antalya, and Iranian flights are not allowed to fly directly.
Turkish airlines operate on this route, but it is limited. Iranian airlines must stop in nearby cities and travel by land. Some also use cities like Ankara. Overall, this is a directive from a governmental and authoritative body.
Regarding the reason for this decision in previous governments, he stated that this decision was a matter of preference, and the promotion of a specific destination was also influential, as they did not want any advertising to take place. In any case, there were other solutions that did not involve erasing the issue. The solution was to encourage people to travel domestically and to strengthen the infrastructure in the south so that the interest in foreign travel would decrease. When the necessary facilities are not available, people naturally turn to Turkey.