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Sunday, May 10, 2015

Iran-Based Airline Purchases Airbus A340s

Iran-based airline Mahan Air has purchased 8 Airbus A340-600s from Virgin Atlantic. The eight four-engine, wide-body jets arrived at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran last night. The A340-600 seats more than 320 passengers in three-cabin configuration and has a range of 13,700 km (8,513 miles). The arrival of the Virgin’s A340s, believed to be less than ten years old, adds newer modern aircraft to the country’s aging civil aviation fleet and is a welcome sign for travelers to and from Iran. Mahan Air also purchased an Airbus A321 as part of the transaction.

 File photo: A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600 at JFK airport (reddit.com)
 
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8 comments:

  1. UnknownMay 10, 2015 at 4:10 PM

    This was prohibited under sanctions before the Geneva agreement, right?

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    1. Nader UskowiMay 10, 2015 at 4:42 PM

      JPOA allows transactions that improve flight safety of Iranian civil aviation, and specifically mentions the supply of certain spare parts and services. I was not aware that the agreement covered purchase of aircraft. Apparently it does.

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    2. AnonymousMay 12, 2015 at 1:25 PM

      Iran can buy planes 7 years and older

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    3. AnonymousMay 13, 2015 at 1:43 AM

      Piruz MollazadehMay 10, 2015 at 4:10 PM
      It still is
      Nader UskowiMay 10, 2015 at 4:42 PM
      No it doesnt
      AnonymousMay 12, 2015 at 1:25 PM
      Not western ones it cant,not without a lot of sleight of hand/sanctions busting as we`ve seen here with this deal,hopefully iran will hurry up and buy some tu214s or il96s from russia

      Delete
  2. Mark PyruzMay 10, 2015 at 5:46 PM

    Per aviation observer at Airliners.net:

    2 A340-600 will replace the 2 747-300 (of mid-1980's vintage)

    3 A340-600 will replace the 3 747-400 (grounded for a few years with resultant loss of capacity)

    2 A340-600 will replace some of the longer A310-300 routes.

    Mahan Air A300-600 series and A310-300 replacement for the retiring A300 B2 and B4 types on dense domestic routes (THR, MHD, SYZ, TBZ, IFN) and regional pilgrimage flights (Iraq and Saudi Arabia).

    Also report of Iran Air receiving two ex-Helenic Imperial 747-200 series.

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  3. Mark PyruzMay 10, 2015 at 6:49 PM

    There's also a report these aircraft are being leased from Airbus, and are not outright purchases.

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    1. Nader UskowiMay 10, 2015 at 9:22 PM

      Were these aircraft on lease to Virgin Atlantic, returned back to Airbus, and now leased to Mahan? The Iranian media are using the word purchase, hence our report here, but they could very well be leased but misreported as outright purchase. Thanks for pointing this out.

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    2. AnonymousMay 13, 2015 at 1:23 AM

      According to the FT these are purchases not leases and carried out in defiance of western sanctions,its a big coup for iran.The jpoa only allows the sale of some limited aircraft parts which iran did not bother buying
      http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b84920ce-f7d1-11e4-9beb-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Zzb7GR00

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