Iran received two Airbus A340s that previously flew in the French Air Force

Last week, Iran, bypassing the sanctions imposed on it, was able to receive two more Airbus A340s . Earlier in February, as many as four A340-300s, which previously belonged to the Turkish airline Turkish Airlines, disappeared in Iran . The piquancy of the current situation is given by the fact that both A340-200s that the Iranians received were previously owned by the French government and flew as part of the French Air Force .

The two Airbus A340-200s MSN 075 and MSN 081 in question made their first flights in February 1995. They started their career with Austrian Airlines (OE-LAG and OE-LAH, respectively), and in 2006 they were bought out by the French and until 2020 they flew in the French Air Force (F-RAJA and F-RAJB, respectively). After the withdrawal from the French Air Force fleet, they were bought out by the French company LMO AERO and from 2021 to the spring of 2022 they were stored in Chateauroux (Châteauroux CHR / LFLX).

And here, the detective story begins again. In the spring of 2022, the planes were sold to LMO AERO by a front Indonesian company that is associated with the Iranian airline Mahan Air. Both sides flew over to Indonesia, where they stayed until May 23 this year, when the Indonesian aviation authorities issued permission for the flight. Under temporary Malian registration (TZ-DTA and TZ-DTC), both A340s flew to Mali. But on the way they “turned” to Iran.

The A340s are now reportedly at the airport in the city of Chehbahar in southeastern Iran. They are “destined” for the state carrier Mahan Air.

Four Airbus A340s “disappeared” in Iran

Four Airbus A340-300 aircraft, which previously belonged to the Turkish airline Turkish Airlines, “disappeared” in Iran on December 23. The semi-detective story has already become a common way for Iran to get relatively new aircraft for its airlines.

Four Airbus A340-300s (former nos. TC-JDM, TC-JDN, TC-JIH, TC-JII) were taken out of service by Turkish Airlines in late 2018/early 2019. After several months of storage in Istanbul in March and April 2019, they flew to Johannesburg, where all four A340s were re-registered by the new owner – the Hong Kong company AVRO Global Limited , in the Guernsey aviation registry (2-AVRA, 2-AVRB, 2-AVRC, 2-AVRD, respectively).

On December 23, all aircraft abruptly changed registration from Guernsey to Burkina Faso (XT-ALM, XT-AKB, XT-AKK and XT-AHH) and, having indicated Uzbekistan as the final destination in the original flight plan , flew out of Johannesburg. And, once in Iranian airspace, the crews declared an emergency on board and “forced” landed in Tehran .

The flight numbers of the former Turkish A340-300s have been listed as MAN (3808-3811), which may hint at a new owner, Mahan Air. The Iranian carrier, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, recently “shared” part of its A340s with the Venezuelan carrier Conviasa and the Syrian Syrian Air.