Alireza Barkhor, the CEO of IranAir, has submitted his resignation to Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Qasemi.
Referring to the array of problems facing Iran’s flag carrier airline over the past decade and its failure to meet the needs of employees, the official said he intends to leave his post after the return of Arbaeen pilgrims’ flights from Iraq.
The government had decided earlier this year to cancel plans to privatize IranAir, IRIB News reported.
“Unless the airline company undertakes structural reforms of its legal, management and financial framework, its privatization will fail,” former roads minister, Mohammad Eslami, was quoted as saying by ILNA, who stressed that IranAir is a “national asset”.
“IranAir needs to induct at least 50 new jets to become profitable,” Touraj Dehqani Zanganeh, the former head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, was quoted as saying.
"Iran has only 10 new airplanes at present … The ministry [of roads and urban development] is not capable of solving IranAir’s problems. Policymakers at higher levels should come up with a proper solution for tackling the airline's lingering problems," he was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
"A number of brand-new planes were added to IranAir's fleet following the lifting of international sanctions in 2016; this was helpful but unfortunately the delivery of new jets stopped," said Zanganeh, who has also served as CEO of IranAir.
Barkhor had earlier admitted that IranAir has made no profit in the past decade.
"An all-inclusive decision must be taken to help the airline settle piles of debts. Our foreign debt amounts to $800 million, we also have 30 trillion rials [$120 million] in domestic debts," he added.
The prolonged period of time that IranAir was under international sanctions and barred from purchasing spare parts and new planes led to a drastic rise in its average fleet age and plunging safety record.
The imposition of international sanctions over Iran's nuclear program exacerbated the situation for the flag carrier.
However, Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, also known as JCPOA, paved the way for IranAir to renew its aging fleet.
IranAir signed contracts shortly after the landmark nuclear deal for 80 Boeing jets, 100 Airbus jets and 20+20 ATR turboprops.
An Airbus A321, two Airbus A330s and 13 ATR 72-600 turboprops, five of which were delivered hours before the reimposition of the first batch of sanctions in August, have been delivered to Iran as part of the contracts.
The rest of the orders were cancelled, as OFAC revoked previous licenses that had allowed the sale of brand-new airplanes to Iran. This is while selling airplanes to Iran was among the issues directly addressed in the nuclear agreement.
