Imam Khomeini International Airport

Imam Khomeini International Airport is the principal international gateway to Iran and the busiest airport in the country for international traffic, handling roughly 9 million passengers annually in pre-pandemic normal years. IKA replaced Tehran's older Mehrabad Airport (THR) as the country's main international hub in 2004, with Mehrabad retained for domestic and regional flights. The airport is named for Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, whose mausoleum and namesake shrine sit nearby — a feature unique among major world airports. IKA serves Iran's population of 88 million as the primary international gateway and is the hub for Iran Air, Mahan Air, and Iran Aseman Airlines. International carriers serving IKA include Turkish, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Oman Air, Air Arabia, Pegasus, Aeroflot (historically), China Southern, Air China, and Lufthansa and KLM (both of which have entered and exited the market repeatedly as sanctions have shifted). US sanctions have fundamentally shaped IKA's operational environment: Iranian carriers have been unable to purchase new Western-built aircraft for decades, leading to one of the oldest scheduled commercial fleets in the world at the airport. Two parallel runways, 11R/29L and 11L/29R, each measure 14,272 ft (4,350 m), among the longest in the Middle East and sized for hot-and-high widebody operations in Tehran's elevation of 3,305 ft (1,007 m). The Salam Terminal (Terminal 2) opened in 2019 as a major expansion, with the original terminal continuing to handle other traffic. IKA sits 30 km (19 mi) southwest of central Tehran in Robat Karim County, with a Tehran Metro connection (Line 1 extension) opened in 2017.