Overseas Aviation

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Iran's Deputy Minister for Roads and Urban Development, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, says Tehran has been informed that the United States will shortly issue it with the relevant export licenses needed to proceed with its aircraft purchase orders with Airbus, ATR - Avions de Transport Régional, and Boeing. Speaking during the CAPA Iran Aviation Finance Summit in Tehran this past weekend, Kashan told Reuters that approval had, in fact, been expected by the end of August, but that has been pushed back to the end of September. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury, which administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions according to US foreign policy and national security goals, is responsible for the issuance of the licences. Although the United States removed nuclear-related “secondary sanctions” against Iran in January, it has kept primary sanctions in place in the form of a domestic trade embargo which forbids, with limited exceptions, US citizens and firms from engaging in transactions or dealings with Iran or its government. As a result, even though OFAC has removed Iran Air from its list of "Specially Designated Nationals" (SDN), the carrier has been unable to finalize Memoranda of Understandings (MOU) signed with Airbus, ATR, and Boeing pending OFAC's issuance of the necessary licenses. Concerning Airbus, Iran Air has indicated it may order: twenty-one A320ceo family jets; twenty-four A320neo family jets; twenty-seven A330ceo family jets; eighteen A330neo (-900) jets; sixteen A350-1000s; and twelve A380-800s. Concerning ATR, Iran Air has indicated it may commit to forty ATR72-600s of which twenty are firm orders while the rest are options. Concerning Boeing, the US manufacturer has unofficially indicated Iran Air has said it may acquire: forty B737 MAX; six B737 NextGens; fifteen B777-300(ER)s; fifteen B777-9Xs; and possibly four B747-8s. It also plans to lease twenty-nine B737s (variant unspecified).