Iran seals new plane purchase deal with Boeing

EghtesadOnline: Iran has signed a new agreement with US aviation giant Boeing for buying dozens of the company’s twin-jet narrow-body passenger planes.

News ID: ۷۴۰۷۴۱

04 April 2017

The agreement involves the purchase of 30 Boeing 737 MAX planes as well as the purchase rights for an additional 30 planes of the same class. It was signed between Iran’s Aseman Airlines and Boeing in Tehran, the country’s IRNA news agency reported.

This came after almost a year of negotiations between Aseman Airlines and the US aviation giant, IRNA added.

Boeing is to provide 50 planes of the same type to Iran’s flag-carrier airline Iran Air through a similar agreement. The overall value of Iran Air’s order that also involves 30 long-range wide-body 777 aircraft is estimated to be $16.6 billion, according to PressTV.

The planes are expected to be delivered to Aseman Airlines from 2019. The Iranian airline is expected to receive at least five of the purchased aircraft during the same year.

Boeing 737 MAX planes - that would enter service in the second half of 2017 – have a passenger capacity of 130 people and are specifically adequate for domestic and regional flights, IRNA added in its report.

The planes that Aseman Airlines has purchased from Boeing would increase the company’s passenger transportation capacity to above 8,000 seats, it emphasized.

Iran Air said in December 2016 that it had finalized an agreement with Boeing to buy 80 new planes. The company accordingly announced that Boeing would start to deliver the planes in 2018 and the deliveries would be completed within 10 years.

Iran has already received the first three of a total of 100 Airbus planes that it has purchased from the European company through an agreement worth around $18 billion. More deliveries are expected to take place over the next months.