With sanctions lifted, Western aircraft companies look for sales in Iran
With a slate of economic sanctions against their country lifted, Iranian officials hope to rejoin the international trade markets and begin doing business with Western companies again.
Compliance with the 聽鈥撀爐he Iran nuclear deal agreed upon last July 鈥� allows for the removal of United Nations 聽sanctions, the eventual rollback of some European Union sanctions, and the end of secondary sanctions imposed by聽the United States. While EU and primary US sanctions remain in place, Iran is now free to do business with countries and businesses from which聽it was previously blocked, and it has access to an estimated $100 billion in formerly frozen funds.
Now that the Islamic Republic is allowed to participate in global commerce, one of its first moves is to reintegrate with the markets and begin working on trade deals with other countries. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, along with more than 100 Iranian officials and merchants,聽 in the hopes of promoting its business relations.
鈥淭his is a very important visit,鈥� an Iranian official told Reuters. 鈥淚t's time to turn the page and open the door to cooperation between our countries in different areas.鈥�
One of Iran鈥檚 top priorities is to make a deal that would modernize its aging fleet of airplanes. The sanctions have prevented Iranian airlines from updating their fleets and properly repairing their craft. Coupled with a for the country鈥檚 major airlines, this has caused Iranian air travel to be among the most dangerous in the world, with .
With many of the tough sanctions now lifted, the Iranian government has jumped on the chance to trade with some of the world鈥檚 top aircraft companies. At a Sunday aviation conference, Iran announced its from European companies.
Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, Iran鈥檚 Deputy Transport Minister, said that the republic had provisionally agreed to buy eight double-deck, wide-body聽Airbus A380s, according to Reuters. A deal between Tehran and Airbus, which could be finalized during Rouhani鈥檚 visit this week, may also bring Iran many of Airbus鈥� short-range A320s and longer-range A330s and A350s.
鈥淲e have listened to the Iranians, and we are ,鈥� Airbus Vice President of Media Relations Stefan Schaffrath told The New York Times.
In addition to a deal with Airbus, Iran hopes to acquire about 40 airplanes from Europe鈥檚 ATR, which is partially owned by Airbus, and about 100 aircraft from Boeing. While the European aviation companies could see progress in their talks with Iranian officials and businesspeople this week, a Boeing contract with Iran could take more time. The US-based company is currently blocked from trade with Iran by the primary sanctions still in effect, which means that any deal would likely require special government permissions to move forward.
