The head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization says a likely revival of the 2015 nuclear deal will resurrect the country’s contracts to buy passenger jets from the likes of Airbus and Boeing.
Talks between Iran and the remaining signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna to remove unilateral US sanctions on the Islamic Republic are in the homestretch, with different sides citing ”relative progress”.
“The program to modernize the aviation industry is the desire of the president [Ebrahim Raeisi], and with the possibility of reviving the JCPOA and removing restrictions, the aircraft purchase contracts will also be revived,” Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh said on Monday.
Iran had placed orders for purchases of 200 brand new planes from Airbus and Boeing after it signed the nuclear deal with the P5+1 group of countries in 2015. However, the plane contracts came to a halt in 2018 after the US Treasury banned the two planemakers from supplying the jets to Iran.
“Iran’s demand with regard to its aviation program in the JCPOA negotiations still stands, and even the contracts for the purchase of aircraft have not been canceled yet and remain legally valid,” Mohammadi-Bakhsh said.
“If the other party fulfills its obligations, we will enter into negotiations and wait for the result,” the official said, indicating that his organization has disagreements about the financing model.
During a brief trade thaw between Iran and the West, Iran signed $36 billion worth of contracts in 2016 to buy airliners from Boeing, Airbus and Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR.
National flag carrier IranAir ordered 100 passenger aircraft from Airbus, 80 from Boeing and 20 from ATR, but the deals depended on US license because of the heavy use of American parts in the planes.
Iran had imported three aircraft from Airbus and 13 from ATR when the US Treasury Department under former president Donald Trump revoked export licenses.
With Trump gone, a searing question on the minds of many Iranians has been whether the duopolists and ATR will be able to consummate the deals.
Mohammadi-Bashkh said some of the aircraft delivered under the JCPOA require heavy maintenance checks, but the Europeans are not fulfilling their obligations to supply repair components.
Source » presstv