Iran plans to develop one new greenfield international airport each in the Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces, in addition to expanding five existing international airports to accommodate rising local and international travel demand.

The planned Ahwaz International airport at Khuzestan province will be located on 2,800 hectares of land, while the Bushehr International airport will be located on a 2,500-hectare property.

Both provinces currently have an existing airport, but the government aims for the new airports to also cater to international flights.

The country’s Urban & Development Ministry announced on 5 October that the planned new airport projects are designed to accommodate up to 400 new aircraft.

The planned projects include the construction of a new terminal at the Imam Khomeini International airport, which has been planned for some time now to bring passenger capacity to up to 25 million annually. Iran has been accepting letters of interest (LoI) from interested companies for the airport’s second terminal.

French firms ADPI and  Buoygues are understood to be among the first companies to have expressed interest in the Imam Khomeini International expansion project.

The four remaining terminals are to be constructed at Tehran’s Mehrabad International (50,000 square metres), Mashhad International (50,000 sq m), Isfahan International (20,000 sq m) and Tabriz International (15,000 sq m). Tabriz is located in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.

In addition to developing its airports infrastructure to address overcapacity and rising demand, estimated to have been growing at 6 per cent annually since 2008, Iran has openly asserted its urgent need to revamp its ageing air fleet.

It is understood the country needs between 400 and 500 aircraft over the next five to 10 years to compensate for decades-long sanctions that severely limited access to new aircraft, parts, technologies and services.