Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.7 /Trend, G.Mehdi/
Iran has purchased 11 Airbus A320 and A310 passenger planes in the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 20, the roads and urban development minister said on Sunday.
"Despite the global arrogant powers' sanctions, 11 planes have been bought", Ali Nikzad said, but did not reveal how much has been expended to buy the planes, the ILNA News Agency reported.
The president of Civil Aviation Organization of Iran said in April that "We plan to increase the number of aircraft and replace the older planes with new ones".
"We also plan to raise the lifespan of the fleets by 25 percent," Reza Nakhjavani told the Mehr News Agency.
U.S. sanctions prevent Tehran from updating its 35-year-old American aircraft, and European parts or planes are extremely difficult to obtain. Iran now relies on Russian aircraft, mostly older planes built before the fall of the Soviet Union, for which spare parts are harder to replace.
Airbus is an aircraft manufacturing company. Based in Blagnac, France and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces approximately half of the world's jet airliners.