Iranian airlines obtain 15 used planes

Iranian airlines have obtained 15 used planes since February as part of efforts to renovate the country’s aging fleet which remains subject to US sanctions, the transportation minister says.

An embargo dating from 1995 prevents Western manufacturers from selling equipment and spare parts to Iranian companies.

The restrictions, which have been blamed for crippling the industry, were partially lifted by an interim agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that came into force in January 2014.

This allowed for the sales of spare parts, though direct sales of planes remained banned.

But, without providing details of how the planes had been obtained, Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi says nine planes, mostly built after 2003, had entered the country on Saturday.

Eight other planes had been obtained since February 20, he is quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency, though two of them are “too old to fly” and will be used for spare parts.

“With the entry of these 15 planes in the fleet, the average age of (Iran’s) airliners dropped from 20 to 19 years,” the minister says.

— AFP