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A Caspian Airlines Boeing 737 was seized at Istanbul Airport on Monday by court-ordered enforcement officers acting on a debt claim of approximately €3 million, stranding passengers who had already boarded a flight bound for Iran.
Lawyers and bailiffs representing the creditor, aviation representation and supervision company ACM Temsil Gözetim, arrived at the aircraft — registered EP-KPB — as it was ready for departure and served the seizure order before it could take off, according to Anadolu Agency.
Passengers and cabin crew were removed from the aircraft and returned to the terminal.
Caspian Airlines is a Tehran-based carrier founded in 1993 and operating as part of Iran’s state aviation group. It flies Boeing 737s on domestic and international routes, including to Istanbul.
Iranian carriers have faced chronic difficulties maintaining their fleets and meeting financial obligations to foreign counterparts as a result of decades of US sanctions, which restrict access to aircraft, spare parts, maintenance services and international financial systems.
The war between the US and Iran that began in February has compounded those pressures, with Iranian airspace repeatedly disrupted and international routes curtailed.
The seizure came days after sweeping US secondary sanctions on Iran’s aviation sector took effect last Wednesday.
The US Treasury had sanctioned 27 Iranian airlines and nine associated service providers on 8 September under its Operation Economic Outcast, warning that foreign airports, fuel suppliers, ground handlers and ticketing companies that continued servicing Iranian carriers would themselves face sanctions and risk being cut off from the US dollar system.
The secondary sanctions triggered a rapid contraction of Iranian aviation internationally, with flights by Iranian carriers suspended in Iraq, the UAE, Azerbaijan and Oman.
In turn, Iran’s largest private carrier Mahan Air suspended flights to Turkey and Oman.
Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines suspended their own routes to Iran through 24 October. Qatar Airways suspended services citing airspace restrictions. China, Russia and Pakistan have continued to maintain flights to and from Iran.
Daily international flights at Tehran’s main airport fell from 80 to 90 before the sanctions to around 41 by Monday, according to tracking data.
Tehran has filed formal complaints with the UN, the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the International Court of Justice.
Turkey has not formally barred Iranian carriers, which is why Caspian Airlines was still operating the Istanbul route at the time of the seizure.