Iran Air cannot support Boeing Deals

Iran Air is having difficulties in funding their 44 billion jet deal and the delivery of their Boeing Jets may be delayed.  

The national carrier may be forced to turn to domestic banks to finance the large number of new planes it is buying from Airbus and Boeing as Iran failed to gain support from International financial banks. 

Should no domestic finance packages materialize, Boeing and Airbus said they are ready to directly finance the deals themselves.  

In December 2016, Iran Air agreed separate contracts to buy 100 Airbus aircraft worth an estimated $27bn and 80 Boeing jets including 30 Boeing 777 jets, four 747-8i, 777 and 737MAX. 

Earlier that year, in February, it signed a deal to buy up to 40 ATR turboprop passenger planes.

Several batches of ATR planes have joined its fleet, starting in May this year, but the arrival of Airbus and Boeing jets has been slower. Just a handful of Airbus planes have been delivered to Iran Air to date and the first Boeing aircraft are not scheduled to be handed over until sometime in 2018. 

Iran Air is just one of several airlines in the country to have made significant orders for new aircraft since the lifting of many (if not all) international sanctions on the country in January 2016. In total, local carriers have placed orders for more than 300 new aircraft and options for a further 50. These orders are twice as large as the collective existing fleet of the country’s 17 commercial carriers. 

Iran’s Kish Airlines has a deal for 10 Boeing 737 Max jets, while Iran Aseman Airlines wants to buy $3 billion worth of Boeing 737 Max jets made in Renton.