Iran Has Bought Large Number of Planes Amid Sanctions

IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – New Head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAOI) in his introductory ceremony said that the country has bought several planes during the sanctions era and at the same time new airlines have been launched.

Toraj Dehghani Zanganeh said that air industry since late year has been struggling with crisis due to the Coronavirus pandemic and there is no bright outlook for the exit from the current condition.

He noted that ICAO had announced that air industry will come out of the crisis by 2022 but later it revised its forecast and claimed the industry might revive by 2024 but all predictions are updated and nobody knows when everything will be normal.

Dehghani Zanganeh added that Iran’s air industry had already been struggling with the U.S. cruel sanctions and Americans have tried to ground Iran’s air industry.

He hailed the outgoing head of CAOI Mr. Ali Abedzadeh and called him Iran’s air industry superman who imported several planes to the country during the sanctions era and several airliners have been set up.

He noted that the maintenance of all planes in the country is done by domestic experts and several knowledge-based air companies have been established that all indicate the air industry in the country is dynamic and alive.

He also pointed to some valuable measures taken during Mr. Abedzadeh’s term, like privatizing the ticket fare which solved many problems of the air industry in the country.

Meanwhile Abedzadeh, for his part, defended his performance in the office despite criticisms, saying that there is no dependence in the national air industry and even the budget of CAOI is independent from the government budget.

He said when he started his work in the organization, there were several cases open in the courts against the organization but all of them were gradually settled and tranquility returned to the airlines and airports.

He criticized some reactionary people who distort the whole aviation industry and they cause disappointment in the industry due to their lobbies in the supervisory bodies.

Abedzadeh noted that since the first day in the office, his critics have tried to undermine his performance through accusations and charges like sham university degree.

He reiterated that he has done nothing wrong and illegal during his term while some have accused him for buying the flight check system with the price higher than what was in the market.

On the Ukrainian plane which was shot down in Iran, he said fortunately the organization is clear while some tried to frame airliners but the organization stood firmly against it.