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A SNEAK PEEK INTO IRAN’S AVIATION MARKET<br />
a preferred transfer hub for Iranians looking to access the key markets of Thailand,<br />
Malaysia, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Australia.<br />
Having said that, Singapore and Iran government will need to first commence air talks<br />
to formalize a bilateral ASA before scheduled flights and direct air links can be<br />
established between Iran and Singapore.<br />
CAG Efforts In Iran And Moving Forward<br />
With the lifting of UN nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, CAG kicked off our first foray<br />
<strong>into</strong> the Iran market with a joint CAG-STB delegation at the inaugural CAPA Iran<br />
<strong>Aviation</strong> Summit held in Tehran from 24 – 25 January 2016. It was the first major<br />
international aviation summit to be held in Iran and was attended by approximately<br />
400 delegates from 35 countries and media. CAG and STB also conducted joint<br />
courtesy calls on Iranian travel agents to gather feedback on the Iran travel landscape<br />
and how Singapore can be better positioned to attract Iranian visitors.<br />
Following the conference, CAG continued to engage Civil <strong>Aviation</strong> Authority of<br />
Singapore (CAAS) to understand the bilateral ASA between the two countries.<br />
Concurrently, CAG also conducted joint consultations with multiple agencies across<br />
Singapore such as the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Singapore Tourism Board<br />
(STB) and SIA who are all equally supportive of an air link with Iran. With Iran’s limited<br />
connectivity to the Far East, therein lies a large opportunity for SIA to capitalise and<br />
capture transfer traffic from Iran to Asia Pacific via Changi.<br />
Sharing an aligned vision for the Iran market and recognising the keen international<br />
competition to woo Iranian visitors, CAG and other key Singapore stakeholders<br />
responded quickly. We co-organized a Singapore Destination Roadshow on 20 April<br />
2016 in Tehran where a Singapore delegation made up of CAG, STB, SIA and 8 travel<br />
trade representatives spanning across travel agents, hotels and attractions presented<br />
on the various tourism offerings in Singapore. This was the first time in recent years<br />
where a Singapore destination roadshow was held in Tehran. The Iranian travel trade<br />
were also able to find out more about the various offerings through the one-on-one<br />
discussions during the networking segment of the roadshow.<br />
As we continue to work with various stakeholders to prepare the Iran market for an<br />
eventual direct air link, SIA is also working around the limitations of our lack of ASA. SIA<br />
has established interline cooperation on Flydubai’s Tehran-Dubai (DXB) flights and has<br />
also appointed a General Sales Agent (GSA) to start actively pushing for sales on SIA via<br />
DXB. We are also proposing for SIA to mount charters to Tehran during the Iranian New<br />
Year (Noruz) in March 2017. Should the Iranian airlines be able to take delivery of new<br />
aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, AD will also be engaging the Iranian carriers within the<br />
limits of the existing sanctions.<br />
With a population of 80 million people, coupled with the easing of nuclear-related<br />
sanctions, Iran is a fast developing market which CAG is keen to establish an air link<br />
with. CAG will continue to engage the various stakeholders and parties to grow the<br />
market until a time when our policies will permit an air link between Iran and<br />
Singapore.<br />
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