Iran has no choice but to buy Russian airplanes: IranAir chief
03 Sep 2007
Iran has to purchase Eastern-made airplanes in order to overcome the problems caused by the US for Iran's civilian aviation, the managing director of IranAir Saeed Hesaami said on 3 September.
Iran has no choice but to buy new airplanes from Russia to meet its domestic demands, Hesaami told official news agency IRNA. He said the aircraft were currently in use in a number of European countries.
Iran Air says that Russian airplanes are as modern and advanced as their western counterparts. Earlier, in late August, Hesaami had said that IranAir has finalised an agreement for purchase of five Tupolev 204 passenger planes from Russia, which it said were competitive with Airbus and Boeing.
The aircraft are to join the IranAir fleet within the next 18 months.