Iran Air: We Purchased Boeing Parts at Official Rates

Farhad Parvaresh, the CEO of Iran Air (Homa), stated that the airline purchased its Boeing aircraft parts at 'official rates' from the American company Boeing. In an interview with the Tasnim news agency published on Sunday, December 2, he referred to the signing of a $300,000 contract between Homa and Boeing, adding, 'Since our contract with Boeing was direct, the prices of the parts were purchased based on the official rates in Boeing's price list.' The CEO explained that 'the main companies have a price list booklet that has the same prices worldwide. It is not the case that they sell parts to Homa at one price and to another airline at a different price.' Previously, a member of the Iranian Parliament's Civil Commission had stated that the price proposed by Boeing for selling aircraft parts to Iran was 'three times' what Iran was paying by circumventing sanctions. Jalil Sarqaleh added, 'In fact, although the memorandum of understanding with Boeing is still in place, this memorandum does not benefit our air transport, and we can supply our required parts at one-third of their proposed price.' Iran Air, which was one of the safest airlines in the world in the 1970s, has faced many difficulties in obtaining spare parts for its aircraft, many of which were made by Boeing, due to sanctions imposed after the U.S. embassy was seized in Tehran, resulting in significant casualties in various aviation incidents. However, based on the interim Geneva agreement reached on December 3, 2013, between Iran and the 1+5 regarding the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, Boeing and General Electric were allowed to sell parts and instructions related to passenger aircraft to Iran. Boeing then announced in a statement issued on Wednesday, October 30, that for the first time since the Islamic Revolution in Iran, it had sold passenger aircraft instructions, maps, and navigation charts to Iran Air to help improve the safety of the aviation industry. In his interview with Tasnim, the CEO of Homa expressed hope that with an 'agreement' on Iran's nuclear program, the air transport industry would also 'be in a better situation and we could import more suitable aircraft into the country.'