Tehran, Iran, March 7
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iranian Zagros Airlines has reached preliminary agreements with a Brazilian company to import 20 airplanes.
"Our recent talks with Brazil's Embraer have led to positive results," Zagros Airlines CEO Hushang Seddiq said, Eranico news agency reported March 7.
Iran's aviation has gone decrepit under sanctions, with airplanes' age averaging 25 and many bitter accidents in the past few years.
"Zagros announced it is ready to buy 20 aircraft with 135 seats each. The Embraer representative then left for Brazil with a preliminary agreement in order to prepare the final steps," he added.
"Zagros offered paying 10 percent of the total price in cash," Seddiq said.
However, he pointed out that the physical carrying of the airplanes to Iran will require a green light by the United States, without any further explanations.
This comes despite the fact that the group P5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, and China, plus Germany) have agreed to lift economic sanctions on Iran starting the implementation day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on January 16, 2016.
However, it seems that US companies are not willing to start business with Iran, whereas many European companies have already visited the country and reached preliminary agreements with Iranian counterparts, although European companies are said to yet fear a reversal of policy by the US and reinstatement of sanctions on Iran.