Baku, Azerbaijan, June 23
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran imported some 17 training planes and helicopters during last fiscal year (ended on March 21), Majid Hasanlou, an official with the Islamic Republic Civil Aviation Organization said.
The figure indicates a rise by 20 percent year on year, Hasanlou said, Iran 's Mehr news agency reported June 23.
The average age of the newly imported aircrafts is five years, he added.
He further said that Iran 's light aircraft fleet includes 206 planes and helicopters of them 93 aircrafts are used for training purposes.
The aircrafts which imported in one-year period include four Robinson-R44 four-seat light helicopters, one Piper PA-34 Seneca twin-engined light aircraft, two Piper PA-28 Cherokee aircrafts, two Cessna 172 Skyhawk four-seat aircrafts and eight Tecnam P92-JS two-seat ultra light aircrafts, the official said.
He did not mention further details about the countries that the planes were imported from.
Iran has announced that the country's private sector is permitted to import aircrafts, while the US-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.
Iranian airlines are currently operating with a fleet of about 140 aircraft, which is much below average international norms in terms of international indexes of population and area, according to the head of the Iran Civil Aviation Organization Ali Reza Jahangirian.
Earlier this month, Abbas Akhoundi, the Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister said that in the next 10 years, Iran would need as many as 400 passenger aircraft at a cost of at least $20 billion.
Edited by CN
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