11 Grounded Planes Return to Service During 100 Days

Eleven grounded airplanes have returned to service during the last 100 days after their repair and overhaul by local technicians, Jafar Yazarlu, spokesman of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran said earlier in April.
The repaired aircraft included two Boeing 737, one Fokker 100, one Airbus A319, and three ATR, IRNA reported.
“Today, we in Iran locally produce 1,000 types of airplane and helicopter parts,” he added.
Iran’s aviation sector has for years been facing US sanctions that prevented it from procuring vital spare parts for repair, leaving many planes grounded and causing technical problems every now and then that result in incidents, sometimes fatal.
Hamid Ghavabesh, former head of Iranian Airlines Association has told the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad that the average age of planes in the Arab countries and Turkey is five to six years whereas the average age of Iranian aircraft is estimated to be 28 years; some older aircraft are also among Iran’s air fleet.
“Except for the limited number of planes purchased after the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [Iran nuclear deal], there is no new aircraft in the Iranian air fleet,” he added.
According to Mohammed Mohammadi-Bakhsh, the head of CAO, no aircraft is sent abroad for repair purposes and that all the work is undertaken by local engineers.
“We are facing a severe shortage of expert manpower for repair, maintenance, design and manufacturing,” he said.
The government of Ebrahim Raisi has sought to meet the increasing demand for air travel by pursuing three strategies: buying secondhand airplanes, overhauling the grounded fleet and airplane manufacturing.
The number of Iran’s airline seats has increased 40% during the past year as demand has increased 2.5 fold, Mohammadi-Bakhsh said in January.
Iran needs 550 passenger planes in its air fleet in order to be able to adequately supply demand in the market, he also noted in a recent meeting of government officials about the state of the country’s air transportation.
“A full-blown war is being waged by world powers against the Islamic Republic in the aviation industry. We are pursuing our goals in four areas of manufacturing, repair and buying second-hand in addition to brand new aircraft,” he was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying.
The deputy head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran for international affairs recently confirmed the country’s purchase of four Airbus A340 passenger planes.
“Recently, four Airbus 340 have entered the country, which will soon join Iran’s air fleet,” Hassan Khoshkhou was also quoted as saying by ILNA.

Russia’s Aeroflot Sends Aircraft for Repair to Iran

Russia's largest air carrier Aeroflot, whose aircraft maintenance capabilities are crippled by Western sanctions, sent one of its Airbus  planes to Iran for repair, the company said earlier in April.
According to the flight tracking system Flightradar24, the Airbus A330-300 flew to Tehran on April 5 and remains there until now, Reuters reported.
"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 the 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 has 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.”