Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
Iran’s aviation system is likely to witness a considerable boom in its capacity for carrying passengers following a deal reportedly inked between the country’s flag carrier, Iran Air, and the US aircraft maker, Boeing, on December 11.
Iranian Transportation Minister Abbas Akhoundi has said that the Sunday’s historic deal is expected to double the Iranian flag carrier’s capacity for carrying passengers, the official news website of the Iranian government reported.
“The number of purchased seats through the deal equals to 50,000 which amounts to over two-folds of the existing seats in the country’s whole aviation fleet,” the minister said in a statement issued after finalizing the aircraft deal on Sunday.
Elaborating on the country’s plans to renew its aviation fleet the minister said that a much awaited contract for purchasing 100 Airbus planes as well as 20 ATR planes is expected to be finalized soon.
The minister further announced plans to offer the shares of the flag carrier airline through the domestic and international stock exchanges after obtaining the required permissions.
Earlier on the same day Iran announced that it has finalized a $16.6 billion deal with Boeing for purchasing 80 passenger aircraft.
The head of Iran Air, Farhad Parvaresh, has said that the contract envisages purchasing 50 Boeing 737 aircraft and 30 Boeing 777 planes.
