Mehrabad International Airport

Mehrabad International Airport is one of two major airports serving Tehran, the capital of Iran, and handles essentially all domestic Iranian aviation traffic plus a limited slate of regional international service. Located 5 mi (8 km) west of central Tehran and sited directly within the urbanized city, THR is among the busiest airports in the Middle East by passenger volume when measured on a calendar-year basis and the busiest domestic-traffic airport in the region by a wide margin. THR handles 125 routes to 40 destinations operated by 12 airlines — a very high route density for its destination count, a signature of intensive high-frequency domestic service serving a population of 88 million dispersed across Iran's substantial land area. International long-haul and most widebody operations moved to the newer Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA) in Shahriar following its 2004 opening, leaving THR as a domestic-dominant facility. No true hub operation applies in the Western sense, but Iran Air — the national flag carrier — treats THR as its principal domestic base and historic home. Other major operators include Mahan Air, Iran Aseman Airlines, Caspian Airlines, ATA Airlines, Kish Air, Qeshm Air, Iran Airtour, Meraj Airlines, Taban Air, and Zagros Airlines. The domestic network is exceptionally dense, connecting Tehran to Mashhad, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Kish, Qeshm, Rasht, Yazd, Kerman, and essentially every Iranian provincial capital. Limited international service reaches Baghdad, Najaf, Damascus (historically), and selected destinations in the Gulf and Central Asia, though the bulk of Iran's international flying routes through IKA. Iranian aviation operates under long-standing international sanctions that constrain fleet renewal and have produced one of the world's oldest in-service passenger fleets. The airfield sits at an unusually high 3,962 ft (1,208 m) elevation with two parallel asphalt runways: 11R/29L at 13,258 ft (4,041 m) and 11L/29R at 13,087 ft (3,989 m). The long runways compensate for the thin high-altitude Tehran-plateau air. Multiple terminals (1, 2, 4, and 6) handle different traffic segments — a legacy of decades of staged expansion rather than unified planning — with some handling domestic service and others dedicated Hajj, VIP, or special-operations roles. THR's location embedded within Tehran's urban fabric is an enduring constraint on its expansion.