Airbus seals deal with Iran for sale of 100 aircraft

European planemaker says deliveries of aircraft to IranAir will start early next year
Airbus seals deal with Iran for sale of 100 aircraft
By Reuters
Fri 23 Dec 2016 12:53 AM




The contract includes 46 of the narrrow-body A320 family which includes the A321 model, 38 long-haul A330s and 16 of Europe's newest long-range model, the A350.




The breakthrough comes days after Iran signed a $17 billion deal with Boeing for 80 jets and is expected to sharpen efforts by the US company to persuade the incoming U.S. administration to allow the trade to go ahead, aviation experts said.


"When Airbus and ATR aircraft start going into Iran, Boeing will point to that to argue that it should implement its own deal," said an aviation source who closely followed the talks.

Boeing declined to comment.

Despite rivalries, the Airbus and Boeing deals with Iran are unusually intertwined because each depends on continued US clearances for the sale of planes built with US parts.


The ability to renew Iran's ageing and accident-prone fleet is widely viewed as a test of the pragmatist policies of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ahead of presidential elections in May.

Airbus said the deal was subject to US Treasury export licences granted in September and November 2016.

Republican critics of the nuclear pact want Trump to block the aircraft deals and have sought to hamper them by voting to tighten restrictions on use of the US financial system.


Planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier called the deal "a significant first step" in modernising Iranian aviation, adding it included training, airport operations and air traffic management.


Reuters first reported in June that the original proposal for 12 A380s - seen as a symbol of Iran's determination to catch up with Gulf rivals and a shot in the arm for Airbus as it struggled to sell the world's largest airliner - was threatened by domestic opposition in Iran.



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