TEHRAN – Minister of Roads and Transportation Mohammad Rahmati called for the related officials to launch a tender so that investors would be able to finance the construction of Phase 2 of Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA).

The minister also called for Iranian Airports Co. to render its most services to those airlines that frequent the international airport more.

The official who on Saturday paid a surprise visit to the largest airport of the country also pointed to the issue of transportation to and from the facility, saying, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has undertaken supplying the airport with a subway system.

Due to the heavy traffic of the Qom-Tehran Highway particularly in the New Year’s Eve, a number of the passengers of the airport have recently missed their flights. For this reason, building a subway system to connect the mega city to the international airport seems inevitable.

Iran officially reopened IKIA airport last April with the landing of an Iran Air flight. The IKIA initially handled all flights on the route between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, all flights of domestic and foreign companies from Iran to the Persian Gulf littoral states, including UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait and vice versa, but not Saudi Arabia, took place from Imam Khomeini International Airport as of last May. The IKIA is said to be capable of handling 40 million passengers a year.