If the deal is approved it will be the largest between a USA business and Iran since the 1979 revolution.
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The purchase includes a mix of 737 and 777 models, Iran Air said.
One of the potential causes of delays in closing a deal with Iran is that the US government must sign off on the sales of aircrafts to the country.
Earlier Tuesday, Iran Air said it had struck an initial deal to buy Boeing 737 and 777 airliners, subject to US government approval. Abedzadeh’s statement in the newspaper on Friday confirmed a Reuters report on June 6 that Iran was close to a deal to buy more than 100 jetliners from the Chicago-based aircraft maker. “It is not specific to our Iran sanctions program”. The years of trade sanctions left Iran to rely on aging fleet of aircrafts to serve the global and regional markets. With an average age of 23 years old, Iran’s 280-passenger jets are nearly twice as old as the worldwide average.
The deal was for 118 new aircraft, reported Associated Press.
The European Union last week eased restrictions on Iran Air flights. Iran says it needs 400 long-range and 100 short-range jets and sees $50 billion in aircraft investments after years of sanctions left its aging fleet in dire need of upgrading. Airports and other aviation infrastructure also needing modernising.
Iran has ordered about 200 planes in total from three Western manufacturers since mid-January when economic sanctions were lifted following a deal on Tehran´s nuclear programme.
That agreement is also still pending permission from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, since more than 10% of Airbus components are of American origin.
Iran disclosed the agreement with Boeing on Friday, the first purchase of Boeing jetliners since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The carrier will obtain the planes through a lease-purchase agreement, pending clearance from the USA and Iran. Roksam claims that Iran is “using commercial airlines to send troops, weapons, missiles and cash to assist the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in his slaughter of innocents”.
Iran’s move is expected to reduce the high number of plane crashes experienced in the country due to old and outdated planes and equipment.
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Ari is the digital media specialist at APEX Media.
