The decision is a boon not only for the two companies but also for Iranian politicians who want to expand Iran’s engagement with the world now that sanctions linked to Iran’s nuclear programme have been lifted. Business has been slow to materialize, though, amid concern among western businesses of running afoul of continued USA restrictions on doing business with Iran. Such a deal would be the biggest between an American company and Iran since the Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover.
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Airbus on Wednesday said some of those deliveries may occur as early as this year, a spokesman said.
In a June letter to the U.S. Congress, Boeing said the deal involves Iran Air buying 80 aircraft with a total list price of $17.6 billion, with deliveries beginning in 2017 and running until 2025.
“The Iranians have absolutely no compunction about using USA or Western technology, ideas, capabilities, doctrines, whatever works”.
“Airbus applied for two licenses and the first one was granted yesterday night”, an Airbus spokesman said. The deal for the A380s came as a particularly welcome boost for Airbus, which has struggled mightily to sell the superjumbo in recent years.
Airbus, Boeing’s arch rival, also got the green light Wednesday from the United States to finalize the sale of 118 aircraft to Tehran.
Most Iranian planes were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought Islamists to power. Years of sanctions left Iran’s airlines with outdated and unsafe aircraft. Those have led them to face restrictions on flying to some markets because of the age of the equipment.
Aviation exports is the largest industry able to benefit from the sanctions removal, and Iran’s fleet is in desperate need of fix.
Neither Airbus nor Boeing has announced a schedule for delivering the planes.
Even though Airbus is a European company, it sources numerous components used to build its planes from United States suppliers.
But financial punishments imposed for Tehran’s other nefarious activity, like missile proliferation, support for global terrorism and human rights violations, remain in place. “So any financing will have to be in euro, already a challenge for a dollar-denominated asset”, said Bertrand Grabowski, managing director of aviation finance at DVB Bank SE. That could be a challenge for Boeing.
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But Republican and some Democratic critics of the deal have expressed concern that the aircraft would be used by Iran for illicit activities, such as ferrying weapons to Syria in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
