Russia sells Su-35 to China, seeks Superjet 100 sales to Iran

Sukhoi Su-35BM "Flanker-E" "901 Black" with Sukhoi SSJ-100-95B Superjet 100 (RRJ-95B)

[Photo: Kulverstukas]

According to Reuters, dated 19NOV15:

China will buy 24 Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia in a deal worth more than $2 billion, an industry source told Reuters on Thursday…

[…]

The deal makes China the first foreign buyer of the Su-35, one of Russia's most advanced military aircraft, and is one of the largest contracts for military jets ever signed between the two countries.

[…]

A delegation representing China's military and aerospace industry also held talks with Russian state-owned aircraft engine manufacturer United Engine Corp this week on the possible joint development and production of military engines.

This included the AL-41F-1S engine that powers the Su-35, United Engine Corp said in a statement.

COMMENTARY: This sale provides a boost to Russia's JSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).

While the sale had been in the works for some time now, still it can be said the Russian intervention in Syria serves Russian arms manufacturers with an effective marketing tool being generated in the form of publicity on mainstream media outlets covering the war.

KnAAPO production facility for Sukhoi Superjet 100 - Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet 100 (RA-89001) at Dzemgi Airport (UHKD)  

[photo: Wikipedia]

According to PressTV, dated 19NOV15:

Russian officials say the country is negotiating with Iran over the local production of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ 100) airliner to replace the ageing Iranian fleet on regional routes.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin says Moscow may deliver a large batch of SSJ 100 planes – described as the country’s most modern commercial jets – to Iran before 2020.

Rogozin told the Russian media that the batch could comprise about 100 planes.

The planes can be in part be localized by Iranian producers if Tehran makes the political decision to purchase ready-made aircraft, he told Rossiya 24 TV during a two-day trip to Iran.

[…]

Sukhoi Superjet 100 is Russia’s newest twin-engine regional passenger aircraft which began operating commercially in 2011. More than 60 aircraft are in service with airlines in Laos, Mexico, and Russia.

Last month, France-KLM's CityJet signed a deal with Sukhoi to purchase 15 SSJ 100 planes worth over $1 billion. Sukhoi has also sold three SSJ 100s to Thailand and one to Kazakhstan.

COMMENTARY: It must be stated the favorite in the sale of this class of aircraft has to be the Airbus A320 series, for it's no secret the Iranians perceive the prize of the nuclear agreement in the form of renewed access to purchasing European hi-tech products such as commercial aircraft. President Rouhani even alluded to this, prior to his trip to Paris being postponed due to the national emergency currently gripping France.

Very unfortunate that the Boeing 737 series will likely be ineligible for Iranian purchase due to American domestic politics, and the history of U.S.-enforced sanctions directed againstg Iran's commercial airline industry.

Were the Iranians to purchase the Sukhoi Superjet 100, this would provide yet another boost to Russia's Russia's JSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).

Mahan Air Boeing 747 sustains air emergency, all passengers safe

Above: Damaged No. 3 engine of Mahan Air Boeing 747, upon safe return to Mehrabad International Airport

According to Sky News:

An Iranian plane has made an emergency landing after part of its engine fell apart two minutes after take-off.

The Boeing 747, which had 426 passengers on board, had just departed from Tehran's Mehrabad airport when "a piece of engine number three came off and hit the body of the plane".

Iranian journalists have claimed the engine part fell into an urban area, but no one on the ground is thought to have been injured.

Pilots of the Mahan Air plane decided to immediately return to the airport, and landed it safely just after 7.15am local time on Thursday morning.

According to the private airline, the aircraft had undergone all necessary safety checks and inspections prior to departure.

Affected passengers were being taken to their destination, the southern city of Bandar Abbas, on a different plane.

COMMENTARY: Aircraft was Mahan Air Boeing 747-383, reg. EP-MNE (cn 23480/641). Aircraft air emergency occurred during initial climb, returned to THR after lost part to No.3 engine. The rear, low pressure turbine, section of General Electric CF6-50E2 engine broke away and fell to the ground in the Eslamshahr country area of Tehran Province.

Fortunately there were no casualties aboard the aircraft or on the ground.

It's possible this air emergency was the result of sanctions, with passenger carrier not provided relevant service bulletin and access to replacement parts.

In May 2010, four uncontained failures of CF6-45/50 engines in the preceding two years prompted the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to issue an "urgent" recommendation to increase inspections of the engines on U.S. aircraft. None of the four incidents of rotor disk imbalance and subsequent failure resulted in an accident, but parts of the engine did penetrate the engine housing in each case. [source: Wikipedia]

Detail of affected General Electric CF6-50E2 engine

At a field in the Eslamshahr country area of Tehran Province, a  NAJA first sergeant looks over fallen section of General Electric CF6-50E2 engine.

Iranian firemen beside collected engine parts debris from stricken Mahan Air Boeing 747-383 aircraft

Photos: Sky News

New ‘Dolphin Park’ livery for Zagros Airlines A322

New "Dolphin Park" livery observed on Zagros Airlines Airbus A320-214, reg. EP-ZAT (cn 999)

[photo: Ata Tavanaei]

 

View of entire livery on EP-ZAT, as photographed 09OCT15 at Mashhad - Shahid Hashemi Nejad International (MHD / OIMM)

[photo: Ata Tavanaei]

Operator history for EP-ZAT, source: Planespotters.net (click to enlarge)

This aircraft's new livery reference of "Dolphin Park" is an interesting one. According to UntoldIran.com:

Dolphin Park or Dolphinarium located in Kish island is the first dolphin park in Iran.

The huge recreational and tourist complex with 100 hectares area is located in the southeast of the island. The complex includes green space with a variety of different species of plants, bird garden, and the first and the only Dolphinarium in Iran. In this complex, different species of marine mammals, including dolphins, northern sea lion, southern sea lion, northern sea cat, dolphin and penguin are kept and tourists can watch their master strokes of those trained by Iranian instructors. A total of 21 marine mammals are kept in pools with a volume of 18,000 cubic meters filled with sea water.

The green space of Dolphin Park has more than one hundred plant species including thousands of palm trees, very large Benjamins, Hornbeam (Lur) trees (banyan), Eucalyptus, Acacia, Myrtle, Prosopis cineraria, Marshmallow, Callistemon, Tecoma ,Conocarpus, Junipers and more than 25 species of cactus and other plants that is unique in its kind considering the climatic conditions of the island and its coral soil.

In the bird garden more than 50 species of various birds like pelicans, ostriches, parrots of Macau, peacocks, various types of stork, toucan, tauraco, swan and other types of aquatic animals like crocodile are kept from all around the world. Due to the proper environment these animals can breed and live naturally.

COMMENTARY: Zagros Airline, based at ABD with main hub at THR, lists two flights to Kish, weekly.

Dolphin performance with touchscreen at Dolphin Park on Kish Island

Dolphin ball trick performance at Dolphin Park on Kish Island

Dolphin ball trick performance at Dolphin Park on Kish Island (as referenced on Zagros Airlines EP-ZAT livery)

Spectator interaction with dolphins at Dolphin Park on Kish Island

Sea lion performance at Dolphin Park on Kish Island

Trained sea lion at Dolphin Park on Kish Island

Photos: UntoldIran.com

Iranian commercial aviation news snippets

Iranian commercial aviation news snippets from past 3 months, compiled by “amin03” at Skyscraper City forum

- Rumors that Iran Air bought two B742 from Greece

- Iran Civil Aviation Organization said Iran needs to buy up to 500 passenger planes during the next ten years

- Taban Air received its first A310

- Taban Air launched Mashhad-Lahore and Mashhad-Karachi routes

- Zagros Air received three to four A320s

- ATA Airlines commenced Mashhad-Baku route

- Caspian Airlines increased Mashhad-Dezful from two weekly to five

- Caspian Airlines on 22MAY15 launched Tehran-Sanandaj route

- Sepehran Airlines based in Shiraz has been established, operating B737

- Taban Air bought one or two B757s. (First purchase of B737 by an Iranian carrier)

- Iran Aseman started Tehran-Yasooj route

- Mahan Air started Tehran-Munich route

- Mahan Air flew to some very nice destinations for the Persian New Year like Colombo, Mauritius, Goa, Sochi etc.

- Mahan Air starts Tehran-Milan route on 09JUN15

- 2-3 weeks after Mahan Air started Tehran-Munich, they announced an increase of flights from 2 weekly to 3 weekly

- Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport registered 22 percent growth in number of flights in the Iranian calendar year 1393

- A route between Iran and Portugal is to be established

- Aegean Airlines will begin 3 weekly flights on Athens-Tehran route, starting 01OCT15

- Alitalia increases the number of flights from 4 to 5 weekly to Tehran

- Turkish Airlines asked to raise the amount of flights to Iran

- Air Asia asked to launch new route from Iran to Malaysia.

- 14 weekly flights from Iran to Germany have been established; Mahan Air, Iran Air, Lufthansa and Germania operate these flights

- Turkish Airlines began to fly route to Ahwaz

- Germania began Hamburg-Mashhad, Dusseldorf-Tehran and Berlin-Tehran routes

- Turkish Airlines expanded from five weekly to one daily flights, Istanbul-Mashhad route

- Ahwaz Airport reported a 50% increase of international flights during the last year (Iranian calendar year)

- Turkish Airlines increases Istanbul-Isfahan flights from 4 weekly to 5 as of 27APR15

- Lufthansa said they will start more flights to Iran

- Flydubai began to fly routes from Dubai to Ahwaz, Hamadan, Esfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Larestan and Bandar Abbas

- Air Arabia began to fly from Sharjah to Isfahan, Sanandaj and Abadan

- Oman Air said they will start a new route to Iran in 2015, still unknown which city

- “More than 47 million passengers with 381,705 foreign and domestic flights in 53 Iranian airports have been conveyed in the past year."

- A foreign airline will start Kermanshah-Sharjah route, possibly Air Arabia.

- Kermanshah-Najaf route will also start soon

- A new airport will be built on the Iranian side of the Iran-Azerbaijan border

- Austrian Airlines added one extra flight per week making it 6 weekly from Vienna to Tehran

- Mahan Air EP-MMJ (A310) now active again after an extended period of storage

- Mahan Air plans Tehran IKA-Phuket; Tehran IKA-Sochi; Tehran IKA-Birmingham; Tehran IKA-London LGW; Tehran IKA-Manama; Mashhad-Delhi

- Iran Aseman bought YA-KMA (A320) but re-registered it as EP-APG

- Taban Air leased A310 from Arian Afghan reg'd as YA-CAv re-reg's to EY-633

- Iranian Naft Airlines sold DHC-6-300 EP-IOP (37 years old) to a Danish airline. It will fly Aarhus-Copenhagen in early-2016.

- Taban Air's first fully owned A310 (CS-TEX/EP-TBH) flew from Mashhad to Tehran-IKA on 27APR15 after checks and paint. It made its first pax flight the day after to Istanbul-IST.

- Taban Air will launch Hajj/Pilgrime flights from Lorestan. This comes after Khorramabad (capital of Lorestan) expressed a high demand. No date has been announced

- Flydubai have currently 31 flights to Iran per week

- Turkish Airlines Cargo adds Istanbul Istanbul-Tehran-Hanoi, two weekly flights operating A330F

- Mahan Air received eight A346, one A343 and one A321 from Al-Naser Airlines based in Iraq

Above: Boeing 757-2Q8, reg. EY-752 leased by Taban Air from Tajik Air for Nowruz holidays service

Photographed by Mohammadreza Farhadi Aref on 02APR15 at Imam Khomeini International (IKA / OIIE)

Recent aircraft additions to Iranian air carriers

Aircraft additions for Taban Air and Zagros Airlines

Recent addition for Taban Air: obtained from Brussels Airlines British Aerospace Avro 146-RJ85, reg. EP-TBG (cn E2289). Aircraft photographed by Mehrad Watson on 27MAR15 at Tehran - Mehrabad International (THR / OIII).

Recent addition for Zagros Airlines: obtained from Travel Service Airbus A320-211, reg. UR-CNJ (cn 311). Aircraft photographed by Mehrad Watson on 19MAR15 at Tehran - Mehrabad International (THR / OIII).