Confusion seems to have brewed with the detention of this Boeing B747-3B3M , whose previous registration EP-MND under Iranian Mahan Airlines had been blacklisted by the US Department of Treasury 11 years back.
Change of ownership of the aircraft has taken place within an year , and the Current registration 'YV3531' belongs to 'Emtrasur Cargo' , created in November 2021 - a subsidiary of Conviasa of Venezuela.
Earlier Livery and Registration of the Aircraft , Courtesy : AirHistory.Net
Now , after much of media noise , due to Argentina seizing a Venezuelan-flagged cargo plane at the Buenos Aires Airport and detained its crew , Iran's leading private airline on Sunday denied reports that the aircraft belonged to it.
In a statement , Mahan Airlines said the plane seized in Argentina was owned by Venezuela and had nothing to do with the Iranian airline.
Iran’s state media claims that the Boeing 747-300 (YV3531) cargo aircraft formerly of sanctioned Mahan air that was sold to the Venezuelan government and is used by Emtrasur has been impounded in Argentina.
A Venezuelan-flagged Boeing 747, allegedly owned by Iran's Mahan Air, was reportedly seized by Argentinian civil aviation authorities immediately after arrival at the Ezeiza International Airport on Saturday.
The incident had a coincidence with the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s visit to Tehran , the cargo aircraft blacklisted by the US was impounded and the five-member crew were detained at the airport.
| Regd. | Delivery Date | Airline/Operator |
|---|---|---|
| F-GETA | 30 / 01/ 1986 | UTA |
| F-GETA | 29/12/1992 | Air France |
| EK-74713 | 01/09/2007 | Mahan Air |
| EP-MND | 18/04/2009 | Mahan Air |
| YV3531 | 23/01/2022 | Emtrasur Cargo |
Registration History of Boeing 747-300 (YV3531).
Argentina's Security Minister Fernandez Anibal took to the social media to comment on the incident , linking the seized plane to Iran's Mahan Airlines and saying the five detained men carried Iranian passports.
El Gobierno inmovilizó en Ezeiza un avión venezolano sancionado por Estados Unidos y le retuvo el pasaporte a cinco tripulantes iraníes. https://t.co/1XEkNEt8qo
— Aníbal Fernández (@FernandezAnibal) June 11, 2022
Reports in the Argentinian media said , the plane had been leased by Venezuela's state-owned Konviasa Airlines . Some reports even linked the detained crew to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Mahan Airlines , however, dismissed the reports and said the ownership of the plane had been transferred to a Venezuelan company for a year and was not leased.
Though there is a noise around the involvement of the Iranian Crew , Mahan Airlines says , "the flight crew belonged to Venezuela and had nothing to do with Mahan Airlines". The statement further said the seizure of the plane had "political motives.”
Earlier, the US had claimed Iran has used Mahan Air for shipments to Venezuela to boost energy production for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government.
Sanctions are not new , Iranian Mahan Air had been placed on a sanctions list by the US Department of Treasury , linking it to IRGC's Quds Force , in October 2011.
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