Iran Air is seeking to have negotiations with non-European aircraft manufacturers to upgrade its ageing fleet.
The development is the result of the reimposition of sanctions by the US Government on Iran. In 2015, the US administration under President Barack Obama and five other countries signed a nuclear deal with Iran to lift the sanctions.
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However, President Trump’s current administration has reimposed the sanctions in order to force Iran to limit its nuclear and missile programmes, as well as withdraw its support for proxy wars in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern regions.
Following the reimposition of sanctions, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had cancelled licences for Boeing and Airbus to sell aircraft to Iran, reported Reuters.
In 2016, Iran Air placed a $27bn order with Airbus for the purchase of 118 aircraft. In the same year, the airline also entered at $16.6bn agreement with Boeing to buy 80 jets.
In addition, Iran Air agreed to buy 20 aircraft from Franco-Italian turboprop plane manufacturer ATR last year.
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By GlobalDataAll the aircraft manufacturers are obliged to US licences because they heavily use US-made parts in commercial jets.
Iran Air chief executive Farzaneh Sharafbafi was quoted by Iran’s Roads Ministry website as saying: “We welcome any company, which is able to provide the planes needed by Iran Air.
“We even have gone after planes such as Sukhoi 100 or planes made by non-European countries.”
Media reports quoting Russian officials said that Sukhoi is looking to reduce the number of US parts with an aim of securing an order from Iran Air for up to 100 jets.
