Iran Aseman Airlines signed a final contract with the American planemaker Boeing in Tehran on Saturday to purchase 30 B737-Max passenger jets worth $3 billion based on catalog prices with the option of adding 30 more in the future.
The aircraft which have yet to be licensed by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control are scheduled to be delivered as of 2022. Five to ten jets are expected to be delivered in that year, Aseman told Financial Tribune.
Iran’s Civil Servants Pension Organization, affiliated to the labor ministry, is a major shareholder of Aseman.
Update
A spokesman for Aseman, Seyyed Amirreza Mostafavi, told us an OFAC permit is expected to be granted in a month.
"Boeing has applied US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for approval of a license to perform under this transaction," reads a Boeing statement shared with the Financial Tribune.
The company said that Boeing will support financing of 95% of the value of the deal.
A preliminary agreement was signed between Aseman and Boeing on March 18 in the presence of Boeing representatives in Tehran after almost one year of negotiations.
Iran Aseman Airlines is the second Iranian airline to order brand new aircraft from Boeing after the lifting of nuclear sanctions in January 2016, as part of the nuclear deal Iran clinched with world powers earlier in 2015.
In December 2016, Iran Air finalized a deal with Boeing to buy and lease 100 jets including 50 narrow-body 737max 8s, 15 wide-body 777-300ERs and 15 777-9s, which are scheduled to be delivered to Iran Air over 10 years. Iran Air has additionally struck a massive deal with Boeing’s rival Airbus to buy 100 jets.
Aseman is also in talks with Airbus to add two A340s and seven A321s to its fleet, which is the third largest in Iran, after Iran Air and Mahan.
While many analysts have expressed concern that Iran’s plane deals might be at risk amid uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s Iran policy, Iran has so far received seven planes, including three Airbus jets and four ATR turboprops.
Aircraft manufacturers need OFAC licenses as more than 10% of their components come from the United States.
Aseman has three A320-200s, one A340-300, four ATR72-200s, two ATR72-500s, three B727-200s, one B727-200(F), two B737-400s and 19 Fokker 100s.
A spokesman for Aseman, Seyyed Amirreza Mostafavi, told us an OFAC permit is expected to be granted in a month.
"Boeing has applied US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for approval of a license to perform under this transaction," reads a Boeing statement shared with the Financial Tribune.
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