Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian airlines are not interested in buying Russian planes, said Maghsoud Asadi Samani, the secretary of the association of Iranian airlines.
Considering the not-so-positive performance of Russian aircrafts in the Iranian fleet, domestic airlines are not interested in buying Russian planes, Iran's ISNA news agency quoted Samani as saying on July 26.
Planes such as Tupolev which have crashed several times in Iran, have caused Russian aircraft to be excluded from the Iranian aviation fleet, he explained.
In such a situation and with an eye to the improvement of relations with the world in the wake of the nuclear deal, Iranian airlines have the right to select from all other airlines to renovate their fleets, he said.
Lifting sanctions could open the door to safer aircraft for Iranians - a substantial benefit to passengers and the carrier, whose safety record in recent years leaves much to be desired.
The country needs about 400 passenger planes to modernize its fleets, which would cost about $20 billion.