Feb. 04--Airbus Group plans to increase its parts exports to Iran, Customer Support Director at Airbus, Paul Klaassen, said on Feb. 4 in an exclusive interview with Iran's IRNA News Agency.
"The Geneva nuclear deal has improved the situation for exporting parts to Iran," he added.
"Sanctions are not completely lifted, but we are looking for some ways to increase our parts exports to Tehran," he noted.
Klaassen, who is currently in Tehran, went on to note that the Airbus team has traveled to Iran to train the pilots of the companies who use airbus aircrafts in their fleet.
Director of Tosse'e Tarabar Iranian Investment Group, Delavar Najafi, said on Jan. 12 that Shaheen Air has recently purchased two Airbus 320 and one Dassault Falcon jet, the Fars News Agency reported.
"The aircraft have not joined the airlines' fleet yet," Najafi explained.
Head of Iran Civil Aviation Organization Alireza Jahangiri said on Dec. 7 that most of Iran's current aircraft would be out of service by Iranian calendar year of 1404 (2025) so the country needs to annually add 30 aircrafts to its air fleet.
"That would annually cost at least one billion dollars for Iran's aviation industry," the ISNA News Agency quoted Jahangiri as saying.
"Although the number of Iran's aircrafts increased to 240 from the previous figure of 140 in the past eight years, but since most of them are old the country's air fleet was practically developed by only 20 per cent in the mentioned period," he said.
Former Head of Iran Civil Aviation Organization Hamidreza Pahlevani said on Nov. 10 that Iran has imported seven aircrafts.
"Six other aircrafts will be added to the country's air fleet in near future," the ISNA News Agency quoted Pahlevani as saying.
"The country has added 24 Airbus to its air fleet from the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), three of them Airbus 320s," he said, adding that 21 aircraft were imported to Iran last year.
Pahlevani previously said that Iran plans to increase the number of its aircrafts up to 550 by the Iranian calendar year of 1404 (2025), adding that by continuing this trend the country will certainly achieve the goal.
The Iranian Roads and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi said on Sept. 11 that the situation of Iran's aviation industry is not satisfactory.
"The country's air fleet is old which raises safety concerns," the Tasnim News Agency quoted Akhoundi as saying.
"The customers are not satisfied with the services the domestic airlines provide," he added.
He went on to note that old airplanes consume more fuel compared to the new ones; therefore the new aircrafts are economically justified.
The Managing Director of Iran Airtour Airline Sirous Baheri said on Sept.1 that over 60 per cent of Iran's total 220 airplanes are grounded due to technical and logistic issues.
Iranian airlines' air fleet is on average 22 years old, the ISNA News Agency reported.
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