Pair of Mahan Air Boeing 747s parked at Fars Co. MRO facility on 03JUL15 at Mehrabad International Airport
[Photo: M. Khodaei]
According to Tasnim News Agency:
Iran's Minister of Road and Urban Development Abbas Akhondi announced that representatives of Boeing aircraft manufacturing company will come to Iran in the near future.
"We are in contact with Boeing and their representatives will soon arrive in Iran," Akhondi said in his talks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius last Wednesday, the content of which was disclosed on Monday.
He also said that during his recent trip to France, he has negotiated with Airbus, whose airplanes currently account for 50 percent of Iran's air fleet, and demanded its executive manager to provide a plan for the renovation of the country's commercial air fleet.
[…]
Earlier on Saturday, Mohammad Khodakarami, deputy head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) told the Tasnim News Agency that the country plans to purchase 80 to 90 Boeing and Airbus airplanes every year to renovate its commercial air fleet.
He added that the text of the final nuclear deal recently reached between Iran and six world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), explicitly states that bans on Iran over the purchase of airplanes have been lifted.
"We need to add 80 to 90 airplanes (to the fleet) each year in order to have 300 young and active airliners by the next five years," Khodakarami noted.COMMENTARY: The Iranians appear already to be leveraging Airbus and Boeing against one another for the better deal in obtaining new civilian jetliner aircraft.
Similarly, Minister Akhondi commented on projected purchases for its railroad infrastructure, claiming "100 locomotives have been purchased from France’s Alstom" and "at the same time the ministry has started its negotiations with Germany’s Siemens Company for the renovation of the country’s railroad system".
