Iran Air Buys Over 100 Airbus Aircraft
Lauren Englisbe January 29, 2016
Iran has been banned from buying new Western aircraft since 1995. Now that sanctions are being lifted, Iran Air has agreed to purchase over 100 Airbus planes.
Iran Air signed an agreement on Thursday to purchase 118 aircraft from Airbus. The deal took place Thursday at the Elysée Palace in Paris, during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s official visit to France.
The transaction covers 45 single-aisle planes and 73 wide-bodies at list prices, at a total of nearly $27 billion, reported Bloomberg. Per Business Standard, the agreement will be finalized when sanctions against Iran have been fully lifted.
The order includes twelve new A380s, which Airbus has struggled to sell to airlines. In fact, Iran Air is the A380’s first new customer in nearly three years, stated The Financial Times.
The rest of the wide-body plane order includes 27 A330s, 18 A330neos, and 16 A350s (the -1000 variant). For single-aisle planes, Iran Air will receive 21 A320 family aircraft and 24 A320neos.
Since 1995, Iran has been banned from acquiring new Western aircraft and parts. As a result, the average age of its passenger planes is 26.8 years, and the country has had one of the worst airline safety records in the world.
In a press release posted on the Airbus website, company president and CEO Fabrice Brégier shared, “The skies have cleared for Iran’s flying public and Airbus is proud to welcome Iran’s commercial aviation back into the international civil aviation community. Today is a significant step in the overhaul and modernization of Iran’s commercial aviation sector and Airbus stands ready to play its role in supporting it.”
[Photo: Airbus]
Where are they planning to fly 380's? That is what strange to me...
@UncleDude, not sure where you got your 'speculation' however Iran had announced their intention to purchase from Airbus almost a month back but wasn't widely reported in Western media. It was also not a very big surprise considering the Iranian president's trip to Italy and France post-sanctions. Iran is reportedly still contemplating an order from Boeing as well but given the Anti-American stance of Iran's leader ("Don't buy too many American stuff once sanctions are off") It remains to be seen on what scale, if at all, it materializes.
Strange Boeing Shares dropped around 10% on Wednesday...reeks of Insider Trading to me. Especially as all speculation was that Iran Air would be making a BIG order with Boeing for their New Aircraft.