Iran to Get First Purchased Airbus Aircraft Thursday
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran will receive the first jetliner from a series of aircraft it has bought from European plane manufacturer Airbus on Thursday, January 12, an official announced.
Managing Director of Iran Air Farhad Parvaresh said on Sunday that the brand-new passenger plane, an A321, is expected to land in Tehran on Thursday.
The plane will take off from Germany’s Hamburg with Iranian pilots, he noted, saying it will be used for domestic flights.
During a January 2016 visit to Paris by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Tehran signed a major contract with Airbus worth about $27 billion to buy 118 planes.
Iran and Airbus intensified business negotiations in October 2016 following the US decision to remove a final hurdle for Western aircraft manufacturers to sell planes to Iran under contracts signed after coming into force of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
While Western plane makers are very keen on trade with Iran, Washington still demands that even non-American manufacturers wishing to sell to Iran obtain an export license if their products include materials made in the United States. Airbus, based in Europe, buys more than 40 percent of all its aircraft parts from the US.
Iran sealed another deal in June worth around $25 billion with the US aerospace heavyweight, Boeing, for the purchase of 100 passenger planes.
In December, the deal with Boing was finalized, allowing Iran to buy 80 planes within 10 years. The first deliveries are expected in 2018.
