IranAir’s CEO and Chairman, Farhad Parvaresh travelled today to Toulouse to take delivery of the national carrier’s third Airbus, second A330-200.

According to the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the delivery will take place tomorrow, 25 March 2017. The estimated departure time from Airbus’ delivery centre in Toulouse is 07:45 CET with the arrival in Tehran about six hours later.

The second Airbus A330-200 (EP-IJB) was announced to arrive shortly after the delivery of the very first one on 11 March 2017.

Earlier this week, IRIB reported that the delivery had been postponed due to banking restrictions. According to the Ministry, the agreement signed with Airbus entails that 15% of the funds must be supplied by IranAir. The 100 aircraft included in a $10 billion order will be delivered within a period of 10 years. With tomorrow’s delivery, IranAir will have received three aircraft from Airbus after having signed the initial agreement in January 2016.

The first A330-200 (EP-IJA), delivered two weeks was quickly put in service on domestic routes just in time for the Nowruz season. IranAir reports that the aircraft will fly to Tehran, Kish Island, Shiraz, Isfahan, Bandar Abbas and Ahvaz. It is yet unknown when the aircraft will start international operations. According to IranAir, a total of 63 extra flights will be performed to domestic destinations and holy cities during the Nowruz period (15 March – 4 April 2017), providing 31,025 additional seats.

The new A330 fleet will expand the long-haul network with planned resumptions to destinations such as Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, however, it will initially be deployed on existing European routes. Currently, IranAir’s timetable suggests that flights from Tehran to Kuala Lumpur and Beijing will resume in early May 2017.

In addition to IranAir’s Airbus aircraft order, the national carrier plans to take delivery of 80 Boeing and 20 ATR 72-600 aircraft. The first Boeing aircraft is expected to arrive in Iran by April 2018 and the ATR aircraft will not be delivered prior to March 2017 as previously expected, due to a dispute with the Canadian engine manufacturer.

Photo: Airbus Group, P. Masclet, master films