Aeroflot Sends Airbus Plane for Repair to Iran

Russia's largest air carrier Aeroflot, whose aircraft maintenance capabilities are crippled by Western sanctions, has sent one of its Airbus  planes to Iran for repair, the company said on Tuesday.
According to the flight tracking system Flightradar24, the Airbus A330-300 flew to Tehran on April 5 and remains there until now, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
"The maintenance of the Airbus A330 aircraft [in Iran] will be implemented by a provider for a wide range of work," Aeroflot said in a statement.
RBC media outlet first reported about maintenance in Iran.
"The firm has all the necessary material resources, certificates and extensive experience, [while] the provider performs maintenance with a high quality level," the airline said.
Sanctions imposed on Russia after it sent its troops into Ukraine in February last year have prevented its airlines from obtaining aircraft and spare parts or undergoing maintenance in the West. Russian airlines continue to operate Western jets, but struggle to import replacement parts.
As Business Insider wrote, Boeing and Airbus both stopped supplying Russian airlines with spare parts as part of the sanctions last spring. Aircraft lessors in the European Union were required to end contracts with Russian airlines last March.
Analysts predicted Russia could start "cannibalizing" its fleet of planes for parts as Western sanctions blocked suppliers from sending parts and providing repairs for Russian airplanes. 
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law last March giving Russian airlines control over hundreds of planes built by Western companies and leased from international firms.
According to Aeroflot, most of its fleet of 179 aircraft are Airbus A320, Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 777-300ER planes.
Sources also told RBC that Aeroflot plans to send more A330 planes to Iran for repairs, but will decide if it will depending on how repairs on this first plane goes.
"Maintenance of the Airbus A330 aircraft [in Iran] will be performed by the provider on a wide range of works," an Aeroflot spokesperson told RBC. "The organization [Mahan Air] has the necessary material base, certificates and vast experience; the provider performs maintenance with a high level of quality."
Russia reportedly signed an agreement with Iran last July to supply Russian airlines with Iranian airplane parts, and for Iran to provide maintenance and repairs for Russian aircraft. The agreement also included increasing the amount of passenger flights between the countries to 35 per week.
"During the decades of economic blockade by the West, Iran has acquired extensive competencies in the repair of aircraft and their components,” Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Russian AviaPort industry agency, told RBC. "These factors are enough to develop partnership relations with Iran."
However, Iran's aviation fleet has had its own challenges from Western sanctions that had been in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Asia Times reported. 
For decades, Iranian airlines had to smuggle airplane parts to keep their fleets updated, Reuters reported.
Iran wasn't able to buy planes or parts until it signed the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, but the US pulled out of the deal in 2018, again curtailing Iran's ability to buy parts and planes.