You probably don't need to send rescue teams for four missing A340s. Four A340s took off from O.R. Tambo International Airport. The planes flew along the east coast of Africa, along the Gulf peninsula, and then to Iran. While the flight plans for these planes indicated that they were headed to Uzbekistan, in reality they disappeared from radar over Iran and landed at the Tehran airport. All four of these planes were once used by Turkish Airlines. Avro Global, a company in Hong Kong, bought the planes. The planes have only been parked at the airport for a few years. There wasn't a lot of activity until recently, when the planes were re- registered in Ouagadoukian with new registration codes. Soon after, these planes left South Africa. The A340s were made between 1996 and 2000 and are now 26 years old. ⚠️Super interesting, going on now: 4 ex-Turkish A340s, recently registered in 🇧🇫Burkina Faso as XT-AKK, XT-ALM, XT-AKB and XT-??? currently flying. The first disappeared over 🇮🇷Iran — known for avoiding aviation sanctions + A340 operator…#MAN3808 #MAN3809 #MAN3810 #MAN3811 pic.twitter.com/7YgVku8DykAirbus A340s fly from South Africa to Iran
Companies that sell US-made products to Iran can't. Iran Air is one of the largest airlines in Iran. They only get planes secondhand and operate an outdated fleet.
The planes they get secondhand are mostly illegitimate because of the restrictions that prevent these kinds of transactions. There is a rumor that the four A340s were bought by the largest private airline in Iran. Back in the day, many of the A340s used to fly for Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.
The flights had the code "manXXXX", which was four numbers. "Man" isn't an airline code, but it sounds like it could be used for a different airline.
There is a rumor that at least two of the A340s may be headed to Syrian Airlines and Conviasa, as those airlines are also affected by sanctions. Conviasa has some interesting routes, for example, the Caracas to Tehran route.
One has to wonder which parties could potentially be held responsible for this.
A lot of people have to turn a blind eye.
Visual confirmation for the new registrations of three out of four Airbus A340s in 🇿🇦Johannesburg taken yesterday, prior to their flights to 🇮🇷Tehran last night: 🇧🇫XT-AKK, 🇧🇫XT-AKB, 🇧🇫XT-ALM.
Picture credit: ORTIAspotter (reposted with permission) pic.twitter.com/JqJ3HYmQGu
— Gerjon | חריון | غريون | ኼርዮን (@Gerjon_) December 24, 2022
Four A340s took off from South Africa and all of them ended up in Iran. I think that this is the standard way that Iranian airlines get around sanctions and take delivery of planes.
It's fascinating, eh? What do you think about these aircraft?
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