Dubai’s Emirates airline is aiming for 10 per cent growth in the number of passengers carried on its flights between Dubai and Tehran this year, according to the company’s divisional senior vice-president, Sheikh Majid al-Mualla.

Emirates wants to add more flights to Iran and new destinations in the Islamic Republic, Al-Mualla told reporters on 1 September, during the carrier’s inaugural flight to Mashad in the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan. Emirates’ services to Mashad, Iran’s second-most populous city, with a population of more than 3 million, comprise five flights a week.

The airline previously operated exclusively to Tehran and its four daily flights to the Iranian capital carried 500,000 passengers in the year ending March 2015. It is the second-most active carrier to Iran after Turkish Airlines. Flydubai, the Emirates Group’s low-cost carrier, operates services to nine Iranian cities.

Emirates is expected to be one of the main beneficiaries once nuclear-related sanctions end, which could be lifted by the start of next year, analysts say.

Up to 500,000 Iranians live in the UAE, and Dubai is a popular shopping and leisure destination for lranians. In 2014, the UAE was Iran’s largest source of foreign goods. Two-way trade, including services, is estimated to have totalled $40bn last year.

The US’ Cluttons said in a report published yesterday that the end of sanctions could deliver a boost to Dubai’s medium- and long-term growth prospects.