Tehran, Iran, Dec. 27
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Over 100 Iranians airplanes are still grounded due to due to technical and logistic issues.
Deputy Minister of Road and Urban Development Mohammad-Ali Ilkhani said that financial problems and the sanctions imposed on Iran limits the airlines' ability to repair the planes, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported on Dec. 27.
"Most of the grounded planes are Fokker 100, which have British engines. London has not agreed to repair the engines yet," he explained.
Iranian Minister of Road and Urban Development Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi said on Dec. 20 that Iran has sent the engines of 14 airplanes to foreign countries in order to be repaired.
"7 engines have been fixed and returned," he said.
The Iranian minister further stressed that the country's civil air fleet should be renewed.
Akhoundi said on August 31 that the country plans to increase the number of its air fleet to 500 planes.
Head of Iran Civil Aviation Organization Alireza Jahangirian said on October 14 that the country needs at least 300 active airplanes.
"We currently have less than 150 active planes," he said.
Jahangirian previously said that most of Iran's current aircraft would be out of service by Iranian calendar year of 1404 (2025) so the country needs to annually add 30 aircraft to its air fleet.
"That would annually cost at least one billion dollars for Iran's aviation industry," he noted.
Following the Geneva interim deal to ease a decade-long standoff over Iran's nuclear activities, Tehran was allowed limited purchases of aircraft parts and repairs.
The Geneva deal took effect on January 20 and expired on July 20. However the two sides agreed to extend their talks for four months till Nov. 24 to reach a permanent deal on Iran's disputed nuclear program.
During a meeting held on November 24, 2014, the sides agreed to extend the talks for further seven months.
On July 24, AFP reported that Boeing has struck a deal with Iran Air to provide plane parts, the first time the U.S. firm will be doing business with Iran since the U.S. embargo of 1979.
According to a regulatory filing published on July 23, Boeing will supply goods and services "related to the safety of flight" to Iran Air, the country's flag carrier.
