Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported about the progress of a number of deals. Iran has reportedly secured financing for 77 aircraft and similar discussions are underway for 17 Airbus, 6 Boeing and 8 ATR aircraft. Iran Air has placed orders for a total of 200 aircraft, with 20 more on option.

The Ministry reported that Iran Aseman Airlines has reached a deal with Rolls-Royce plc. to supply the airline with 100 Tay-650 engines, used for the ageing Fokker 100 fleet. However, Rolls-Royce’s Head of Communications Oliver Walker-Jones denied the reports to Mehr News Agency and stated that the deal only concerns three engines. One engine has already been delivered, taking the total supplied engines to four. The British company was not in need to apply for an American OFAC licence for the sales of Tay-650 engines as less than 10% of its components are American-made. In spite of this, Rolls-Royce has applied for an OFAC licence to be able to sell engine components with more than 10% American-made parts in the future.

A number of agreements were also signed with German companies, two from the Lufthansa Group. Lufthansa Technik agreed to repair the engines of Iran Aseman Airline’s Airbus A340, the world’s oldest active A340. Lufthansa also expressed its readiness to sell aircraft to the Iranian airline just as it begins the phasing out of the Airbus A340-600 fleet.

On the sidelines, negotiations regarding engine repair and spare parts are continuing with Germany’s MTU Friedrichshafen, a division of Rolls-Royce plc., on behalf of a number of Iranian airlines. Iran Aseman Airlines is also in the progress of finalising a leasing deal with TUI Group to acquire three Boeing 737-800s for a time period of three years.

A few weeks ago, Aseman was cleared to complete a lease-purchase deal with an Irish firm to add a total of 7 Airbus A320neo to its fleet.

Photo: Sonja Brüggemann, Lufthansa Technik AG