Birjand International Airport — Birjand, Iran

Birjand International Airport, given the code XBJ, serves Birjand, the capital of South Khorasan Province in the arid, mountain-fringed east of Iran not far from the Afghan border. The city has long been a trading and craft center, renowned for hand-woven Persian carpets and for the surrounding farmland that produces much of Iran's saffron and barberry, known locally as zereshk. Birjand's isolation from Iran's larger cities across difficult desert terrain has made air travel especially important for the region, and the airport maintains regular domestic service to Tehran and Mashhad, the major pilgrimage and commercial center to the north. Its runway and modest terminal reflect the scale of a provincial capital rather than a major hub, yet XBJ remains a vital link for residents, merchants and officials who would otherwise face a long overland journey across sparsely populated desert highways to reach the rest of the country.