Iran’s first purchased Airbus ‘A321′ in the post-sanction era landed in the capital’s Mehrabad International Airport on Thursday morning.
Minister of Road and Urban Development Abbas Akhundi and his deputies, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi and a number of parliament members took part in the event.
Many domestic and foreign reporters also covered the ceremony.
The Managing Director of the country’s flag-carrier airline – Iran Air – Farhad Parvaresh and the Managing Director of Airbus Company Fabrice Brégier together with a number of his staff members were among the passengers of the flight which landed in Tehran.
The aircraft was officially delivered to Iran Air by Airbus company in a ceremony held In France on Wednesday.
Airbus Chief Executive Fabrice Bregier announced in the ceremony that with delivery of the aircraft, cooperation between Iran Air and Airbus officially started.
He hoped that with delivery of the aircraft, expansion of economic cooperation with Iran will get a faster pace.’
‘Today is a great day for Iran Air and in the relations between Iran and the European Union,’ Parvaresh said.
This is the first 190-Airbus Iran receives according to a contract which had been signed by President Hassan Rouhani during his visit to Paris last year. Upon finalization of the contract, Iran Air is to purchase 100 planes from Airbus, the first of which arrived in Iran today.
‘The contract for purchase of the planes was signed by Iran Air and Airbus on the OFAC license and international law and ‘we try to deliver the purchased planes to Iran Air based on the contract; this year, a number of the planes will be delivered to the company,’ Fabrice Brégier said.
In addition to buying aircraft, the contract also includes items like training courses for pilots, repair and maintenance, air navigation services development, airport operation, exchange of technology and the coordinating regulations for Iran Air .
All the aircraft have been purchased under a hire purchase contract, and Iran Air has supplied 85% of financial resources through foreign finance and 15% through domestic resources as well as the National Development Fund facilities by Bank of Industry and Mine.
Source: IRNA