Mahan touches down in Guangzhou

Mahan Air has inaugurated services to its latest destination Guangzhou as its second gateway in China.

The inaugural flight, W5 81, departed Tehran IKA Airport at 2000 PM on 19 May, arriving at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at 0800 AM local time the following day. A water cannon salute and delegation of senior airport officials received the aircraft and welcomed the passengers on this sold out flight and joined the media and the airline senior management in a brief ceremony organized by the airport in celebration of the inaugural flight. Dignitaries present in the ceremony were the Consol General of Islamic Republic of Iran in Guangzhou.

Welcoming remarks were provided by Mr. Jacky Peng Deputy Director of Marketing at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport which was followed by ribbon cutting.

Speaking at today’s welcome ceremony Mahan’s Director of Marketing and Route Development , Hossein Hosseini, said: “Launching flights to the beautiful city of Guangzhou as our second gateway to China is a sign of our long term commitment to this vast market and the very strong response in the form of sold out flights on the inaugural and the next two weeks gives us huge confidence in future expansion of our presence in this great and fast growing country. Guangzhou has always been on our radar since there are strong levels of trade activity between Iran and China “ said Mr. Hosseini. “Iranians like to come to China for trade and tourism and equally, we are seeing increasing number of Chinese nationals are travelling to Iran to enjoy its rich cultural heritage and reputation for hospitality. We think that Mahan will have an important role in enhancing cultural and trade relations of our two countries in the future."

The twice weekly flight (on Thursdays and Sundays) is operated via 226 seats A340-300 in three class configuration and with more than 10 tons of belly capacity on each flight it will give Mahan’s cargo role a boost in China. This is in addition to its current four weekly flights to Shanghai which has shown great success since its commencement in September 2011. Mahan Air currently operates a modern fleet of 48 passenger jets aircraft from its Tehran hub to 20 key business and leisure cities across Europe, Middle East and Far East as well as 32 destinations in Iran. Guangzhou is Mahan’s 53rd destination.