The government has announced that a new domestically manufactured small airplane will become operational by the end of the current Iranian year (March 19, 2016). The new aircraft seats six passengers, ISNA quoted Manouchehr Manteqi, the head of Aviation Industry Organization–a body of Ministry of Defense–as saying. The official added that plans are also underway to make aircraft with a capacity of eight passengers and more in the future. The new planes, however, will not enter the country’s civil air fleet due to their low capacity. Plane production generally requires multilateral cooperation between a wide range of industries, but in the shadow of sanctions imposed by the United States over Iran’s aviation industry after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has decided to give domestic aviation industry a chance.
