Earlier this month, Emtrasur’s Boeing 747-300M landed at Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Onboard were nine Venezuelan and seven Iranian crew members, which quickly raised some questions among the airport authorities. Since June 6, the aircraft and crew have been grounded in Argentina, unable to fly back to Venezuela. What is going on? Let’s investigate further.

A bit of context

So, to tell this story, we need a bit of context. Emtrasur is a cargo airline, a branch of Venezuela’s State carrier, Conviasa. This freighter operator possesses only one aircraft, a Boeing 747-300M registration YV3531.

Emtrasur received this plane earlier this year after a stint as an aircraft for the Iranian carrier Mahan Air. It is the first of possibly three Boeing 747s that Emtrasur will acquire from Mahan Air, according to local media outlets. At the moment, Conviasa is seeking pilots for its Boeing 747.

Since acquiring the aircraft, Emtrasur has been operating cargo flights across the world. According to data by FlightRadar24.com, this Boeing 747-300M has been in airports like Querétaro and Toluca (Mexico), Belgrade (Serbia), Moscow (Russia), Oranjestad (Aruba), Minsk (Belarus), and Ciudad del Este (Paraguay).

It was in Paraguay where the questions regarding the operations of this aircraft began. On May 13, Emtrasur operated a flight to Ciudad del Este and landed with 18 people onboard, seven Iranian citizens and 11 Venezuelans. In an interview with a local radio station, Douglas Cubilla, a senior member of Paraguay’s civil aviation authorities, said,

“The company declared that (amount of crew members) when cargo aircraft always carry between six and seven members in reality. It raised some questions that more people were onboard, but they declared that number, and we can’t intervene. They declare a certain amount of crew members, and they have their reasons to do it.”

Emtrasur's Boeing 747 loading some cargo.
This Emtrasur's Boeing 747 is currently grounded in Venezuela. Photo: Venezuela's Embassy in Belarus.

So what happened?

A month later, on June 6, the aircraft departed Mexico en route to Buenos Aires via Caracas. Due to bad weather, the plane diverted to Córdoba, only to operate the short flight between Córdoba and Buenos Aires a bit later. That’s when the controversy began.

According to certain Argentine politicians, Emtrasur’s Boeing 747 flew between Córdoba and Buenos Aires with its transponder turned off.

On Twitter, Gerardo Milman, a deputy member of an opposition party of the current government, asked the authorities to provide information regarding the “anomalous behavior” from the aircraft, which overflew Argentina’s airspace without wanting to be tracked.

The aircraft landed in Ezeiza without a further problem, and the authorities reviewed the cargo without finding anything suspicious. Nonetheless, some of the Iranian crew members are suspected to be connected with the Quds Force, according to the Argentine newspaper Perfil.

Emtrasur flight
On June 8, Emtrasur attempted to fly away from Buenos Aires, only to come back a few minutes later. The aircraft has been stranded ever since. Photo: FlightRadar24.com.

Stranded in Argentina

Emtrasur’s 747 was scheduled to leave Buenos Aires on June 8. According to FlightRadar, the aircraft left Ezeiza at around 17:48 UTC, only to return to the airport about half an hour later.

The reasons for their return to Buenos Aires are currently unknown. Both the aircraft and the crew have been stranded in Argentina ever since.

According to local media outlet Aviacionline, none of the crew members are detained and are free to leave the country at their will. The aircraft is the problem, though. Apparently, not a single company or the government wants to take care of Emtrasur’s Boeing 747, and provide it with fuel or assistance, as they fear they could face sanctions from the US government, due to its apparent links to the Iranian regime and former operator, Mahan Air.

Mahan Air is an airline that has been flagged by the US Department of the Treasury as a “tool to spread (Iran’s) destabilizing agenda around the world, including to the corrupt regimes in Syria and Venezuela, as well as terrorist groups throughout the Middle East.”

What do you think about this whole incident? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: El Clarín, Perfil, Aviacionline, FlightRadar24.com.