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Iran adds new airbuses to renovate its air fleet

11 May 2015 22:17 (UTC+04:00)
Iran adds new airbuses to renovate its air fleet

By Sara Rajabova

Iran has added several new airplanes to its air fleet since it has heavily suffered from international sanctions over the past years and required an overall.

Abbas Akhoundi, Iran’s minister of roads and urban development said on May 10 that nine new airbus joined Iranian air fleet, increasing the number of seats to 26,000, IRNA news agency reported.

He said the purchase of new airbus planes have added up an additional four thousands seats to the Iranian air fleet.

Iran’s need for passenger planes has increased as the country expects to see an improvement in its transactions with foreign countries, should a final nuclear deal between world powers and Iran be reached.

Since the country reached a tentative nuclear framework agreement in Lausanne in early April it has anticipated a surge in activities and Iran has said to be keen to revamp its aviation fleet.

Akhoundi expressed hope that the government would be successful in implementing a plan which will see the refurbishment of the ageing air fleet in the wake upon the end to all sanctions against Iran.

He also added that some 17 new passenger planes joined the Iranian air fleet in the past three months, adding that 15 of them are currently operating domestic and international flights.

Akhoundi noted that in April the country has been negotiating with companies supplying airplane parts in parallel with the progress of nuclear talks with the P5+1 group of countries.

Ali Reza Jahangirian, head of the country’s aviation organization earlier said Iran needs to buy up to 500 passenger planes in the next 10 years to renovate its aging fleet.

He said a number of plane manufacturers have traveled to Iran over the past year, discussing possible agreements and assessing the market, without naming the airlines.

The Iranian aviation industry is under international sanctions. Western imposed sanctions have barred Iran from buying western aircraft since the 1970s.

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury has barred Iranian airlines, including Iran Air, from landing or operating in the U.S. Furthermore, extraterritorial U.S. sanctions prevent European airports from providing Iranian carriers with fuel or accepting their money.

However, a preliminary agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in November 2013 led to an easing of sanctions in the aviation sector. Tehran was allowed the limited purchase of aircraft parts and repairs, but not aircraft.

In February, Iran said it had concluded three contracts with the U.S. aviation giant Boeing after it signed the Geneva nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of countries in the late 2013.

Last year, major U.S. aerospace manufacturers, Boeing and General Electric, applied for export licenses in order to sell airliner parts to Iran following the November 2013 deal.

The U.S.–led sanctions on aircraft and spare parts exports to Iran have left the Iranian airlines saddled with not only some of the oldest fleet in the Middle East, but in the world.

Iran's four largest carriers - Iran Air, Aseman Airlines, Mahan Air and Iran Air Tours - all have average fleet age above 22 years, according to the Iranian media outlets.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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