First Purchased ATR Planes to Land in Iran in Days


First Purchased ATR Planes to Land in Iran in Days

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The first batch of the brand-new turboprops Iran has purchased from ATR aircraft manufacturer will arrive in the country within the next 10 days, Managing Director of Iran Air Farhad Parvaresh announced.

In an interview with Tasnim, Parvaresh said a second delegation of experts from Iran Air travelled to France on Tuesday to finalize the arrangements for the delivery of the planes purchased from ATR, a joint venture of Airbus and Finmeccanica of Italy.

According to the official, Iran is going to take delivery of the first four planes within the next 10 days.

Iran Air and ATR spent months negotiating an order for 20 ATR 72-600 aircraft worth $576 million at list prices, with options for another 20.

Iran is gradually receiving the passenger planes purchased from Airbus, ATR , and Boeing, following the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

Meanwhile, Tehran seeks to take a more active role in the international aviation field. On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif introduced Parvaresh as the country’s new representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

After the JCPOA took effect in January 2016, Iran accelerated efforts to renovate its aging fleet of passenger planes.

During a January 2016 visit to Paris by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Tehran signed a major contract with Airbus worth about $27 billion to buy 118 planes.

Later in June 2016, Iran sealed another deal worth around $25 billion with the US aerospace heavyweight, Boeing, for the purchase of 100 passenger planes.

In December 2016, the deal with Boeing was finalized, allowing Iran to buy 80 planes within 10 years.

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