TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian experts succeeded in repairing a 50-year-old Boeing 747 cargo plane amid harsh US sanctions against the country.
“The Boeing 747 is 50 years old but it joined Homa (the national flag-carrier Iran Air) in 2008 and Iranian specialists have overhauled it under the conditions of sanctions,” Homa’s senior repair technician Rahim Baghban told reporters on Monday, Fars News Agency reported.
He added that the CEO of Boeing Company has expressed appreciation that Iran has flown the company’s planes for 50 years with great safety.
Baghban said that the overhauled Boeing 747 is a wide-bodied plane, used by Homa for humanitarian measures and assisting people injured by natural disasters.
The head of Iran Civil Aviation Organization, Touraj Dehqani Zanganeh, announced last month that the country’s specialists had gained the know-how and capability to repair and overhaul heavy airplanes.
“Today, the repair and maintenance of different aircraft, from light to heavy, is carried out by specialists and experts of the aviation industry,” said Dehqani Zanganeh.
He added that several domestic knowledge-based companies produce the most complicated parts needed by the aviation industry.
Also, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami announced in February that the country has taken important measures in the aviation sector that prove Iran’s self-confidence in defusing the US sanctions.
“The overhauled jets are of F-4, F-14, F-27, Sukhoi and Mirage types, as well as C-130 and 707 transport aircraft,” Brigadier General Hatami said in a ceremony where eight domestically-overhauled military aircraft were delivered to the Iranian Army on February 20.
The minister also noted that tech-savvy countries have refused to provide the Iranian Air Force with even the smallest spare parts and services it needs while under threats from the US and its allies, as well as tough sanctions and an all-out economic war against the Islamic Republic over the past 40 years.
However, he noted that Iran had taken important measures in the aviation industry that prove its self-confidence in neutralizing sanctions.
- source : Iran Daily
