The War in Ukraine: Iran's Airlift to Russia
Last updated 29 May 2023. New total: 107 flights. Original total (24 Feb - 24 May 2022) was 23 flights.
In the first months of 2022, dozens of western civilian and military cargo aircraft delivered aid for Ukraine to Ukrainian airports. However, it‘s not just Ukraine that is receiving uncommon foreign cargo flights: Russia is too. In the months following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at least 69 Iranian cargo flights flew from Iran to Moscow. In this blog post, I will first shortly summarize the Western Airlift to Ukraine. Afterwards, I will show how three cargo aircraft from Iran regularly visit airports around Moscow. I will also provide further background information about these aircraft and provide visual evidence for their visits.
Foreign cargo flights for both Russia and Ukraine
In the past months, dozens (if not hundreds) of military flights landed at Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in Poland, delivering military aid to Ukraine following the invasion by Russia on 24 Feb 2022. In fact, the military airlift already started already before the invasion. For example, on 13 Feb 2022 I identified a total of 43 cargo flights into Ukraine over January and February 2022. Following the invasion, I have shown that Antonov Airlines Antonov An-124 aircraft flew to Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport 18 times in March 2022 and 13 times in April 2022.
The Iranian airlines flying to Russia
Back in 2021, I reported how two Iranian airlines were flying to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, likely supporting its civil war around the Tigray province. At the time, I identified a total of fourteen such flights. Using satellite imagery, I proved how at least one of these flights visited Ethiopian Air Force Base Harar Meda, shown below.
In tweets and blog posts I identified the main participants of Iran’s airlift to Ethiopia: “Pouya Air” Ilyushin Il-76TD reg. EP-PUS and “Qeshm Fars Air” Boeing 747-200 reg. EP-FAA. The same two very aircraft are now regularly visiting Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Summarizing the blog post below: Both airlines operate a very small fleet of one or two active heavy cargo aircraft. According to the United States Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), both airlines have a history of flying for IRGC-QF, the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps - Quds Force.
A third cargo airline operating on the Iran to Moscow route in the period following the Invasion is the cargo division of Iran’s Flag Carrier, Iran Air Cargo. The aircraft they operate to Moscow is EP-ICD. Registered PH-MCF, this Boeing 747-200C was first delivered to Martinair Holland back in 1988. Although the aircraft has side windows like a passenger aircraft, the aircraft has a full cargo configuration, making it one of the few Boeings 747 with a nose cargo door with windows.
Over 100 Iranian cargo flights to Moscow
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 Feb 2022, I have found a total of 92 Iranian cargo flights into Russia, all of which went to Moscow. The following flights to Moscow were identified, listed in chronological order:
This list was generated by combining Flightradar24 and ADSBexchange data. For each flight I have added added a link to the specific flight on ADSBexchange. This list was originally made on 24 May 2022 and later updated on 13 Jul 2022, 10 Oct 2022, 04 Nov 2022, 11 Mar 2023 and 29 May 2023.
(The paragraphs below were written in 2022 and not updated since and may therefore be incomplete or outdated).
All flights by “Pouya Air” EP-PUS went to Moscow Vnukovo Airport (VKO/UUWW), located west of Moscow. “Qeshm Fars Air” EP-FAA generally visits Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO/UUEE), located north of the city. However, at least one flight by “Qeshm Fars Air” EP-FAA (15 May 2022) seems to have gone to Vnukovo Airport instead. On 02 Jul 2022, “Qeshm Fars Air” EP-FAA visited Moscow Zhukovsky Airport (ZIA/UUBW). Like EP-FAA, also “Iran Air Cargo” EP-ICD flights visits Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport.
Because of MLAT tracking, it is not always clear which where these flights to Moscow come from or head to. One “Iran Air Cargo” flight (08 May 2022) clearly visited Yerevan in Armenia before continuing to Russia. Two “Qeshm Fars Air” flights (22 Apr 2022 and 20 May 2022, both using full ADS-B) came from Imam Khomeini Airport (IKA/OIIE) near Tehran. For many other flights, flight origin remains uncertain.
Given that Tehran is the home base of the aircraft, looking at available MLAT positions and knowing that Iranian cargo flights to Moscow tend to fly north out of Iran, across the Caspian Sea and Kazakhstan, turning west to Moscow when reaching the Russian border, it becomes clear that the flights most likely came from Iran. Tehran seems the most logical candidate.
One may wonder whether these flights are anything out of the ordinary. This raises the question: how often did these Iranian cargo aircraft visit Moscow in previous years? To get a quick overview of an aircraft’s whereabouts, I used Icarus Flights, a platform developed by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) that uses ADSBexchange aircraft tracking data. “Qeshm Fars Air” aircraft (EP-FAA and EP-FAB) were tracked visiting Moscow twice in 2021. Over the same period, “Pouya Air” aircraft visited Moscow once. “Iran Air Cargo” was not tracked visiting Moscow in 2021. This confirms that the 69 flights following the invasion are a clear increase compared to normal.
Visual evidence
Because of long-term western sanctions against Iran, Iranian cargo aircraft are generally old and rare models. Therefore they are high on the wishlist of planespotters around the globe. As a result, cameras follow them wherever they go, making it relatively easy to find pictures of them. All four aircraft (EP-FAA, EP-PUS, EP-SIH and EP-ICD) were regularly spotted by planespotters on the airports around Moscow over the past months. Some examples are shown below.
Passenger aircraft flights to Moscow
Beyond cargo aircraft, also Iranian passenger aircraft have been visiting Moscow. For example, a “Mahan Air” Boeing 747-400 passenger aircraft (EP-MEE) visited Moscow between 17 May 2022 and 04 Nov 2022. According to the description of the picture below, this was an uncommon visit.
Even though this aircraft is known to be in a passenger configuration, it remains currently unclear whether EP-MEE is delivering passengers or cargo (in cabin).
Because some other flights may be regular flights that also took place before the war and because of the passenger configuration, I have chosen to not include further these flights in the list above. In total, I found 30 flights from Tehran to Moscow by EP-MEE following the invasion (last updated in 2022):
Conclusions
Following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, at least 107 Iranian cargo aircraft have landed at airports around Moscow, Russia: Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky. These flights have been regularly spotted by aircraft enthusiasts around Moscow, and their routes can be verified using aircraft tracking websites such as Flightradar24, ADSBexchange and Icarus Flights.
These 107 cargo flights are a clear increase compared to the time before the invasion, suggesting that they are not carrying the pre-war everyday Iranian or Russian exports. The timing of these flights could indicate that they are related to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Needless to say, I will be keeping a close eye on these flights and may come with a follow-up if Iranian flights to Moscow continue.
Update 13 Jul 2022: 17 more flights were added since 24 May 2022, to a total of 40 flights.
Update 10 Oct 2022: 22 more flights were added since 13 Jul 2022, to a total of 62 flights.
Update 04 Nov 2022: 7 more cargo flights were added since 10 Oct 2022, to a total of 69 flights. Also 30 flights by EP-MEE were added.
Update 11 Mar 2023: 23 more cargo flights were added since 04 Nov 2022, to a total of 92 flights.
Update 29 May 2023: 15 more cargo flights were added since 11 Mar 2023, to a total of 107 flights.
Cover picture: An older, archive picture of “Pouya Air” Ilyushin Il-76TD reg. EP-PUS at Vnukovo Airport near Moscow, taken on 08 March 2017 by Papas Dos. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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well, the western company won't deal with Russia anymore its natural that some other companies will going to fill the void created
I must add up the fact that a new 20 yrs strategical contract signed just this year right before invasion . that alone could explaine increase in flights.