France says Airbus delivery to Iran near
France says a major plane purchase deal between Iran and Airbus will be put into effect within the next few weeks.
French Transport Minister Alain Vidalies told reporters in the Iranian capital Tehran on Monday that negotiations over the deal have been finalized, adding that Airbus has already started proceedings to provide planes and aviation equipment to the Islamic Republic.
Vidalies - who arrived in Tehran on Sunday night on board of the first Air France jet to land in Iran in eight years - added that technical discussions over the financial aspects of the deal are still underway.
On the same front, Abbas Akhoundi, Iran’s transport minister, emphasized that Airbus has announced that it will fund the deal to sell planes to Iran in the near future.
Akhoundi also said he had discussed about the involvement of French firms in Iran’s transportation projects in his meetings with Vidalies.
The $27-billion deal with Airbus – that was signed during the visit to Paris by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani – envisages the delivery of 118 planes within the next few months.
Iran is also negotiating with several other global aviation giants over the purchases of planes including Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer.
Iranian officials have already emphasized that the country will need to buy 500 commercial jets of various models for various short-, medium- and long-distance routes.
According to Minister Akhoundi, Iran’s current civil aviation fleet consists of 248 aircraft with an average age of 20 years, of which 100 are in storage.
Discussions over plane purchases by Iran have been simultaneous with the resumption of flights by international airlines to the country.
Air France resumed its flights to Iran on Sunday after a hiatus of eight years. German carrier Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines also run several flights a week connecting Iran and Europe. British Airways will start offering six flights a week to Tehran on July 14.
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