Iran Air Unveils Boeing Deal Financing Process

About 85% of the $16.6 billion Boeing order will be financed through foreign sources and the rest will be paid in cash by Iran Air.

Farhad Parvaresh, the Iranian flag carrier's chief executive, made the announcement in an interview with Fars News Agency on Tuesday.  

Iran Air signed the deal with Boeing earlier on Sunday for 80 passenger jets, including 50 of Boeing’s narrow-body 737max 8s, 15 wide-body 777-300ERs and 15 777-9s, to be delivered over the next 10 years.

"Boeing will initially finance the first batch of six planes. The rest of the 80-jet order will then be financed by a third party before being delivered to Iran Air over time," Parvaresh added.

As for Iran Air's 15% payment, the airline's CEO said it will be sourced from Iran's sovereign wealth fund NDFI.

The National Development Fund of Iran was created in 2011 to save oil revenues to develop Iran and invest overseas for future generations. Under the current laws, the government should deposit 20% of its revenue from oils sales to NDFI.

According to the fund’s deputy for economic affairs, Mohammad Saeed Nouri Naeini, since its inception, the NDFI has amassed $67 billion in deposit.

About the cost of the Boeing deal, Parvaresh noted that the $16.6 billion figure stated in the contract is subject to change and will probably end up lower, depending on the specifics of the purchase and the services involved.

Representatives of the European aerospace giant Airbus arrived on Sunday just hours after Iran Air concluded the Boeing deal.

"We have started negotiations and if there are no problems, we will sign the agreement within a week for the purchase of around 100 planes," deputy minister of roads and urban development, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan, told AFP on Monday.