TEHRAN (ECOIDEAL)- Iran announced that it has authorized establishment of 10 new airlines within the next six months in what appears to be part of the country’s determination to expand its passenger planes fleet.
"The financial supporters of the new airlines were already purchasing planes from the international suppliers," Head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization Ali Abedzadeh said on Friday.
Abedzadeh expressed hope that some of the new airlines would become operational before early 2018.
"The new carriers would provide a variety of services that focus on flights to domestic, regional and international destinations; some of them will only provide charter flight services," Abedzadeh said.
The senior aviation official underlined that the minimum investment required for launching a new airline in Iran is around $90 million.
In a relevant development on Saturday, the Iranian airline Qeshm Air signed a contract to purchase several more passenger planes from the giant aviation company Boeing.
The Qeshm Air officials said that the company has placed an order to purchase 10 Boeing 737 MAX planes.
The announcement by Qeshm Air came just two days after other two Iranian airlines announced that they have ordered to buy planes from the European aviation giant Airbus.
Zagros Airlines and Iran Airtour – two private Iranian airlines – announced on Thursday that they had signed agreements with Airbus to purchase a total of 73 passenger jets from the European plane-maker.
Accordingly, Zagros Airlines said it would buy 20 aircraft from the single-aisle Airbus A320neo family and eight A330neo planes. Iran Airtour’s order would comprise 45 planes of the A320neo type.
Both companies are believed to be planning to use the new planes for their domestic and international flights.
According to estimates from the Iranian civil aviation authority, the country's airlines will need to purchase between 400 and 500 new planes over the next decade.
The country’s national flag-carrier airline – Iran Air – has already signed deals to buy 100 planes from Airbus, 80 from US rival Boeing and 20 from ATR.
Iran’s Aseman Airlines has also signed an agreement to purchase 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets.
The 737 MAX is equipped with the latest technologies that have given it the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the single-aisle market. It will also be 14 percent more fuel efficient than Boeing most efficient Next-Generation 737s.
Source: Farsnews