Official: Iran-Made Passenger Plane Ready for Flight in 3 Years
“I expect the first Iranian-made passenger plane will be included in the country’s aviation fleet within the next 36 months,” Mohammadibakhsh told reporters in a press conference in Tehran.
He added that Iranian ministries of transportation, industries and defense have been cooperating on a key project to manufacture 72-seat and 150-seat passenger planes inside the country.
Mohammadibakhsh also said that Iran has a short-term target to unveil home-made 12-seat and 17-seat flying taxis in a near future, adding that the Iranian government counts on the supply of domestically-manufactured planes to modernize an aviation fleet that has suffered in recent years because of sanctions.
“We need 550 aircraft which we should access either through domestic manufacturing or through imports of brand-new or second-hand planes,” he said.
Iran accelerated a project to manufacture home-made passenger planes after aviation giants Boeing and Airbus refused to supply planes that had been ordered by the country before it came under American sanctions in 2018.
In May 2018, the US withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers, and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran, barring the sale of passenger planes and provision of parts and technical services to the Iranian aircraft.
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