It’s not often you see a Boeing 777 just completely destroyed, but that’s the footage that’s now emerging from a recent attack. Before we get into this, let me just mention that I’m coming at this exclusively from an aviation perspective (give how rare hull losses are), rather than from a political perspective.
In this post:
Israeli airport attack leads to Boeing 777 hull loss
In late March 2026, Israel conducted a heavy airstrike against Mashhad International Airport (MHD), in northeastern Iran, as part of the current conflict with the country. There had been reports that at least two Mahan Air aircraft had been hit, but at the time, I didn’t actually see full pictures of the damage.
Well, there are now pictures widely circulating online of the Mahan Air Boeing 777, and it’s completely destroyed. Suffice it to say that the plane will never fly again.
That second picture is wild. The plane almost looks like a fish skeleton, in terms of what’s left of it. Interestingly, the engines and most of the wings appear to still largely be intact, while the main part of the fuselage is unrecognizable.
Mahan Air is the largest airline in Iran, with a fleet of around 35 aircraft. The plane that was attacked had the registration code EP-MTC, and it was a 25-year-old Boeing 777-200ER. The plane had only joined Mahan Air’s fleet in December 2025, so it was in service for around three months before it was destroyed.
The plane initially started flying in 2001 for Singapore Airlines. When Singapore Airlines retired the plane in 2015, it started flying for NokSkoot, the low cost carrier from Thailand.
Prior to the hull loss, the 777 had been flying mainly between Tehran (IKA) and China, including Beijing (PEK) and Shanghai (PVG). The plane’s last flight was on March 29, 2026 (the day of the attack), from Shanghai to Mashhad. As you can see below, radar coverage ended over western Afghanistan.
The way Iranian airlines acquire aircraft is fascinating
Iran has long faced sanctions from the West, and that has limited the country’s ability to acquire aircraft directly from Airbus, Boeing, or most leasing companies. As a result, airlines in the country have taken a “creative” approach to acquiring aircraft.
You’ll notice that airlines like Iran Air and Mahan Air have varied and outdated fleets, as they’ll pick up whatever they can get. I’ve written in the past about the wild world of Iranian aircraft smuggling.
Essentially what typically happens is that some unheard of company pops up from a country that doesn’t sanction Iran. Then that company buys a bunch of planes, claims they’re going to fly to some destination, and then mid-flight they turn off their transponders, and the planes mysteriously end up in Iran.
That’s also true of this exact 777 that was just destroyed. For some time, the plane had been in storage in Alice Springs, Australia (ASP). Then in December 2023, the plane was mysteriously acquired by Ion Aviation, a United States-based company that briefly had a simple website where it describes itself as “your trusted partner for aviation solutions and insights,” offering “expert aviation consulting services” (that website has since been taken down).
Then the plane was sold to UDAAN Aviation, a company based in Madagascar (one certainly wonders what the United States-based company knew). In the process, the plane was briefly parked in Lanzhou, China (LHW), then it was flown to Siem Reap, Cambodia (SIA), and then it was flown to Jakarta, Indonesia (CGK), presumably for maintenance.
After some work was performed, the plane was finally flown to Iran. That’s not how the flight plan was actually filed, but instead, transponders were turned off over Afghanistan, and the plane then ended up Iran. Interesting stuff, eh?
Bottom line
A Mahan Air Boeing 777 was destroyed in a late March 2026 Israeli attack on Mashhad Airport. While we had reason to believe this attack had happened, I hadn’t actually seen pictures of it, until now. The visuals are kind of wild, to see a 777 “carcass.” Mahan Air had just started flying this plane in recent months, so talk about a quick hull loss…
@omarsidd
100 missiles a day shot into Israel by Hamas and Hezbolla for 22 years is just fine with you?
And those nasty Jews destroyed an empty 777200ER is a terrible inhumane insult to humanity?
Definetly off topic Ben from your type of column.
If you are going to write about war stories for a side, then you are no longer an international column.
Don't pick a side. You are not a war correspondent.
Otherwise you need to begin showing US and Israeli assets up in flames. And I do not think that is what you are about Ben.
You've got a good column.
Ben I find it out you live in Miami given how much you hate Jews and Israelis. Why don't you leave?
I follow OMAAT for quite some time, and I never noticed any negative comments against Israel and/or Jews from Ben. So, how did you come to this conclusion?
He loves attacking Jews all the time. You're delusional.
Ben I find it out you live in Miami given how much you hate Jews and Israelis. Why don't you leave?
Oh no! Just when I was about to hit Super Plutonium®️ Elite™️ level on Mahan Air, this happens.
Seeing strikes on civilian targets like this is really disheartening, but unsurprising considering the character of the aggressors.
Living in Iran under decades of sanctions has to have been hard enough without the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure like we've seen.
Hopefully Mahan was able to salvage those engines (at least for parts)...
Mahan Air is NOT civilian. Mahan Air is widely recognized by international intelligence and treasury departments as a primary logistical arm for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF). The airline has been under U.S. sanctions since 2011 for its role in the covert transportation of weapons, personnel, and illicit funds to support Iranian proxies
How awful. I mean, how tragic that an empty aircraft that is used to ferry the officials of a regime that just murdered at least 35,000 unarmed protesters.
I'm sure Iran will respond as they always do: target apartment buildings and schools.
You guys simply believe anything the media cyphers of Western governments spit out. How pathetic. Grow some brains and try to see through the fog. Meanwhile, enjoy your time at the gas pump!
Not really a fan of Israel, but this is just blatantly misinformation. Almost all the targets in Dubai by Iran were Civilian (They bombed random hotels and drone striked apartments) and Dubai airport which is the only area that is joint was basically entirely civilian infrastructure focused (Terminal buildings, A380s).
So, when someone else does this to Israel,why does that become "Terrorism". Oh I see they are always the "VICTIMS". It is just like Israel Bombed 200 Ambulances with injured children in Lebanon last month, killed all of them, But whem 3 empty Israeli owned Ambulances were destroyed By Fire in Europe, it is considered Terrorism.
i don't understand why ben gurion doesn't have craters in its runway at this point
In this conflict, the Iranians have been the "good guys" and generally not targeting purely civilian things. Ironic that Israel's war managed to redeem the most extremist portion of the Iranian regime (IRCG)
you must've missed DXB, hotels in Dubai, and other civilian targets hit by the Iranians
How awful. I mean, how tragic that an empty aircraft that is used to ferry the officials of a regime that just murdered at least 35,000 unarmed protesters.
I'm sure Iran will respond as they always do: target apartment buildings and schools.
Finally some good news!
What? Gas prices are soaring, no fertilizer, and food costs rising fast? Gee, what did I miss? A hegemon stuck in an elevator?
How does a missile travel from Israel into Iran, hit a Boeing airplane (presumably from above) and leave zero damage on the ground? The pictures of the airplane are obviously from an explosion from within the cabin. I'm not a fan of Israel but don't believe everything you get from Iranian sources.
The Israelis (if this was their work) are likely to have used a Hermes or Heron UAV, targeting the aircraft on the ground using a laser-guided, precision, ground attack missile. These armaments are so accurate and the explosive charge relatively small, that collateral (ground damage) is minimal. I can also be deduced from the photograph that the ensuing fire caused the majority of the damage to the highly volatile aluminium fuselage and contents.
I...
The Israelis (if this was their work) are likely to have used a Hermes or Heron UAV, targeting the aircraft on the ground using a laser-guided, precision, ground attack missile. These armaments are so accurate and the explosive charge relatively small, that collateral (ground damage) is minimal. I can also be deduced from the photograph that the ensuing fire caused the majority of the damage to the highly volatile aluminium fuselage and contents.
I hope that this is helpful.
After thousands of useless posts, at least this one factually correct, especially for someone who never set foot on the superior Polaris cabins.
Even if you lost your combat missions, basic combat analysis is not lost on you.
That said, this only confirms that the biggest threat as a passenger flying through the region is not from Iran.
With such a precision and deadly weapon, why target an airliner?
What threat can a Mahan 777...
After thousands of useless posts, at least this one factually correct, especially for someone who never set foot on the superior Polaris cabins.
Even if you lost your combat missions, basic combat analysis is not lost on you.
That said, this only confirms that the biggest threat as a passenger flying through the region is not from Iran.
With such a precision and deadly weapon, why target an airliner?
What threat can a Mahan 777 be?
They can always disable it by hitting the engines not the fuselage. It's not like Iran can easily replace those 777 engines. At least there wouldn't be collateral damage if there is still innocenct civilians on board.
Ironically the one that actually uses commercial airliner for military operations are Mossad on El Al.
Eskimo posts: “After thousands of useless posts”, someone’s been counting …. :-)
How gratifying to be acknowledged by such renowned OMAAT troll. Please be assured that you are back on my Christmas Card List Bro’ …. for now! ….
Ok Gregory. I won’t believe what you wrote.
I've said this before and I'll say it again. Everyone should either become an Jew or an American, why would you not be the best in the world.
How is the plane still standing in the second photo? Am I missing something or is this AI slop?
The forward weight of the engines is acting as a counterweight to the rear of the aircraft; that is why the rear is dipping but is not actually resting on the ground.
The Air Canada in LGA picture is even more shocking to me
Like what I warned on a different post.
This is the risk of traveling through the middle east right now.
The only weapons capable of bringing down an airliner are from Western operators.
Much more likely to get (accidentally) shot down by advance American or Israeli missiles than deliberately by Iranian munitions using technology from the 70s.
No, all it takes is an inexpensive drone at an airport, or at lower altitudes. Iran and its proxies just haven’t escalated to that point yet. I hope this does not encourage them to. Western allies are far more at risk since they operate more commercial aviation in the region. I will not transit ME for a while personally.
And it takes a trigger happy, war hunger training fatigue to mistaken your airliner as an aggressor combatant doing a dive maneuvers to launch weapons or some ballistic missile and suddenly become a safety threat.
From 700 miles away at Mach 13, you don't stand a chance, not even countermeasures on El Al.
I'd rather be on the ground and likely a less important target from a drone detected from 700 miles away coming at...
And it takes a trigger happy, war hunger training fatigue to mistaken your airliner as an aggressor combatant doing a dive maneuvers to launch weapons or some ballistic missile and suddenly become a safety threat.
From 700 miles away at Mach 13, you don't stand a chance, not even countermeasures on El Al.
I'd rather be on the ground and likely a less important target from a drone detected from 700 miles away coming at you at Mach 0.13 than in the air as a target from an advance killing machine.
Iran has better targets to go after both offensively and defensively.
While Israel and ally wants air superiority and will shoot anything that flies because radio waves can't tell if it's an A300 or F-14.
I'd still believe odds of getting shot at by allies are significantly higher than from Iran. With even much lower chance of survival from those advance weapons.
Balderdash!
Thank you for your true to form “Walter Mitty” post Eskimo.
You might not make it to Christmas if you keep spouting nonsense like that. I’ve only just put you on my Christmas Card List too ….
While your guess is close. It's not Walter but William. As in William C. Rogers III.
He shot down an A300 and got a medal for it.
Thats using munitions from the 60s.
Imagine the damage that state of art missiles can do.
Well, well, another reason for the antisemites and Iranian apologists to get their knickers into a twist!