TEHRAN - Boeing Co. has offered Iran 3 models of new aircraft, namely 737, 787 and 777 series, said Maqsoud Asa’di-Samani, the secretary of the Society of Iranian Airlines.

After holding a two-day meeting with the Boeing delegation in Tehran from April 10 to 11, the managing directors of seven Iranian companies, that use Boeing aircrafts in their fleet, announced that they would review the offers according to their requirements, Asa’di-Samani was quoted as saying. 

Supporting the current fleet of Iran and providing parts and services to the fleet has been the main focus of the negotiations.

“Boeing’s cooperation in supporting the current airplanes of Iran and its loyalty to its commitments will contribute to decisions for purchasing airplanes from Boeing,” the Iranian official said.

Iranian airlines have some 60 Boeing airplanes in service, but most were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

International sanctions which barred Iran from buying western aircrafts was lifted in January after the two sides reached an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.

According to Transport and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi, Iran is seeking to modernize as soon as possible its ageing passenger plane fleet which has been badly hit by sanctions over the past few years.

The minister said Iran currently has just 150 operational planes out of a fleet of more than 250.

Now though, with the nuclear deal in place, airline manufacturers can re-enter the market, though Boeing has been more hesitant than its European competitor Airbus.

Previously, Boeing said that its license from the U.S. Treasury Department only allowed it to offer “commercial passenger aircraft fleet planning.”

In late March, a U.S. State Department negotiator on the nuclear deal said nothing under the deal would stop Boeing from making a deal with Iranian airlines.

Since the deal took effect earlier this year, Iran Air has signed agreements to buy 118 planes from the European consortium Airbus and 20 more from French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. Other European companies have pushed into Iran as well. 

SJ/MA