Spare parts from aircraft belonging to a Turkish airline that undergo maintenance in western Europe have been sold through Turkish companies to the Revolutionary Guards-linked Mahan Air, Israel Hayom has learned.
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Mahan Air has obtained a large number of spare parts for its A310s and A340s through Turkish companies. A flight mechanic who once maintained A340s of the airline said, parts of two of Turkish Airlines A340s "were knowingly sold to us, and they were broken into pieces in Istanbul. These parts arrived in Iran first through Russia in 2021 and now they are coming directly by land from Turkey. They are purchased through intermediary companies."
If these claims are true, one has to wonder whether Turkish Airlines is aware of this alleged scheme and who the final beneficiary is, yet continues to sell parts and devices of its fleet to Turkish and non-Turkish companies such as Tarmac Aerosave in Spain and France, one of the largest suppliers of spare parts for passenger aircraft. According to the claims, it is there that the sold parts are being repaired, and then sent to Turkey. Turkish intermediaries, in turn, deliver them by land to Iran.
"In some cases, even aircraft parts supplied from Tarmac Aerpsave in France and Spain by these intermediary companies citing the excuse of land shipment via Iran to UAE for installation on A340-642s of Al-Etihad Airways end up in Mahan Air," the mechanic said.
Israel Hayom has viewed the evidence, purportedly related to the transfers, but isn't able to publish it because of the sensitivity of the matter and the risks to those involved.
According to an A340 flight mechanic who spoke on condition of anonymity, the aircraft were purchased by the sanctioned airline through a cluster of companies registered in Turkey, Hong Kong, and Burkina Faso. Further investigations by the author prove that a Hong Kong-based company purchased them in 2019 and had them stored in Johannesburg for three years until they were flown to Tehran. Three days before their flight, the aircraft received XT-ALM, XT-AHH, XT-AKB, and XT-AKK registration codes which were obtained through a Burkina Faso-registered company of Mahan Air in-order to facilitate their transfer to Iran.
"An Airbus A340-642 under heavy maintenance in our hangar in Khomeini airport which is said here that is also going to Venezuela. Technical companies have recently purchased aircraft parts, including engines, for it from France and Spain by means of several Turkish companies. Now, Turkey has taken the place of Armenia for us as a major source of spare parts," another source in the industry said.
Mahan Air currently has 64 passenger aircraft among them around half of them are airworthy simultaneously: with 13 of these being Airbus A310s while 14 others are Airbus A340s.
The Airbus A340 wide-body and long-haul passenger aircraft, particularly its 642 series, has been once the holder of records for longest flight endurance and range among modern passenger aircraft. Mahan Air currently operates seven A340-642s.
Mahan Air has had two of its A340-313Xs leased to Syrian Air since 2017 while two of its A340-642s have been wet-leased to Venezuela's flag carrier, Conviasa since the beginning of 2022.
Out of the remaining 14 aircraft currently in Iran, five are operational and are used for flights to China, India, Thailand, UAE, and Turkey while the rest are cannibalized for their parts or are under maintenance.
According to a source, the airline has the intention to lease two more of them including one of the ex-Turkish Airlines A340-313s and also one of the A340-642s. The A340-313 is planned for delivery to Syrian Air while Conviasa will take the A340-642 according to the source.
On December 24, 2022, four Airbus A340-311/313 passenger aircraft previously used by Turkish Airlines were flown from South Africa to Uzbekistan but eventually, on their way to the destination, their pilots all declared an emergency, and changed their course, turned off their Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) and flew to Tehran where they landed. It has now been determined Mahan Air is the buyer of the aircraft in question which has procured them by means of several front and sham companies in South Africa, Hong Kong, and Burkina Faso in a three years long process.
Within the past two decades, Mahan Air has used a cluster of sham and front companies in Armenia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, UK, and UAE to circumvent US sanctions and procure passenger aircraft. Back in the years between 2005 and 2011, two front companies were key aircraft and spare part suppliers of Mahan Air in Armenia until they were both sanctioned.
After that until 2021, Mahan used other companies from Armenia to buy passenger aircraft but finally with the efforts of the US State Department, the airline found Armenia an unsafe country for the establishment of sham companies in-order to circumvent sanctions. Now, according to sources in the industry, Turkey has taken the place of Armenia for the airline as the best country for use as an intermediary for buying aircraft and their spare parts.
Turkish Airlines and Tarmac Aerosave did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
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