Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, Iran’s Deputy Minister Roads and Urban Development announced that IranAir will see the addition of a new aircraft to its fleet in the coming weeks.
In December 2016, IranAir and Boeing signed a $16.6 billion agreement including 80 aircraft; 50 737 MAX 8s, 15 777-300ERs and 15 777-9s. The Boeing 777 deliveries were scheduled to start in 2019. Now, about two years earlier, IranAir plans to take delivery of the first from a total of 15 Boeing 777s-300ER aircraft.
In an interview with Mehr News Agency, the minister confirms the news that a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, will be delivered to IranAir in mid-May 2017. The aircraft, originally ordered by Turkish Airlines and registered as TC-LJK, was expected to be delivered to the Turkish national carrier in April 2017. However, due to a number of setbacks faced in 2016, the company has been compelled to lie down its expansion plans. The aircraft will reportedly be re-registered to an Iranian registration, EP-IQA, as well as being repainted into IranAir’s livery on 13 April 2017. Accordingly, the aircraft in question plus the 79 other Boeing aircraft have received the crucial licence from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), authorising the deliveries. All of the aircraft included in the Airbus order have also received licences from OFAC.
Currently, a team from IranAir is inspecting the aircraft and its options. If the preferences meet those of IranAir’s, the aircraft is ready If not, the process will take one additional month.
The Iranian national carrier has previous to this acquisition of a cancelled order made similar arrangements. During the first quarter of 2017, IranAir took delivery of two new Airbus A330s and one new Airbus A321, originally ordered by Avianca. In March 2017, IranAir’s CEO announced that they plan to take delivery of four Airbus A320s in 2017 and five Airbus A321s in 2018. In addition to the Airbus and Boeing agreements, IranAir is expected to announce a deal with ATR concerning 20 aircraft in a few days.
Earlier this week, Iran Aseman Airlines and Boeing announced a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), expressing the airline’s intent to purchase 30 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft valued at $3 billion.
Source: http://www.aviationiran.com / photo by Woodys Aeroimages
#IranAir will not receive the #B777 that wasn’t delivered to Turkish Airlines. pic.twitter.com/67uewMMyGz