Boeing yesterday announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran Air “expressing the airline’s intent” to buy narrow and wide-body aircraft.
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According to The Times of Israel, Iran Air, the country’s national carrier, said Monday it wanted to buy a large quantity of the Boeing 737s and 777s from the Chicago-based manufacturer.
DUBAI, June 22 Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday he hoped that Tehran’s deal with USA planemaker Boeing would pave the way for finalising another contract with its European rival Airbus.
Boeing sees an “opportunity for hundreds of airplanes” in Iran, Randy Tinseth, the plane maker’s vice-president for marketing, said on Tuesday. This marks the Islamic Republic’s first major deal with an American company following the controversial nuclear deal. The companies must address sanctions that prohibit banks from dollar-based transactions with Iran.
It also signals an apparent win for moderate forces in Iran led by President Hassan Rouhani, who strongly backed the nuclear deal as a way to revitalize the country’s sanctions-choked economy.
Iran Air is the state carrier of Iran, a country with an aging aircraft fleet.
Iran Air released a statement on its website saying it would obtain the planes through a lease-purchase agreement, pending clearance from the USA and Iran.
Iran is trying to modernize its fleet of aircrafts after some of the trade sanctions it faced were relaxed.
The Boeing deal is not set in stone, however.
Boeing officials also recently told NPR that the company needs to do business with Iran.
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The other reason that could hold back Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) from closing the aircraft supply deal with Iran is financing. Comments Khamenei made in April apparently caused Iranian officials to strike models from General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet division off a list of allowed automobile brands for the Iranian market. Okay, it’s a very important and necessary move. It is not clear whether this is a priority or not.
