TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran and Russia are discussing joint production of passenger planes with a capacity of 70-150 seats, Deputy Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Manochehr Manteghi says.
Manteghi announced the plan at the opening of the 11th Iran International Airshow & Aerospace Exhibition which he described as a starting point for strategic cooperation and advancement in the country’s aviation industry.
“One of the important discussions of this exhibition is networking and providing a platform to achieve the desired accomplishments in the aviation industry,” he said.
Manteghi said some of the results of the previous exhibitions were the placement of knowledge-based companies in the supply chain and manufacturing of airplanes and helicopters, as well as the development of UAVs in the commercial sectors of the country, and the creation of a consortium between technological companies for the design and development of airplanes and helicopters.
In the current exhibition, the joint cooperation between Iranian and Russian aviation industries in the field of joint cooperation in the MRO of commercial aircraft, construction of aircraft with a capacity of 100 to 150 passengers by the Russian Aviation Union, as well as joint cooperation in the design and manufacturing of 70 to 100 passenger aircraft and ka226 helicopters in Iran are strictly pursued in Iran, Manteghi emphasized.
Over 90 Iranian and foreign companies are taking part in the 11th Iran International Airshow & Aerospace Exhibition from 13 to 16 December 2022, in the Persian Gulf Kish Island.
The Kish Air Show also known as Persian Gulf Airshow is an aviation exhibition that is held biennially on Kish Island. The first edition of the exhibition was held in 2002, as 11 foreign companies from France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Slovakia, and Switzerland took part in the expo.
In August, the head of the Civil Aviation Organization unveiled plans to produce a 50-seat passenger plane as part of efforts to counter the West which he said is waging a full-scale war against Iran’s aviation sector.
“The idea and plan to build a passenger plane has been around for years. It is an order and strategy that the Islamic Republic is following,” Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh said.
According to Mohammadi-Bakhsh, three platforms of 50-, 72- and 150-seat passenger planes have been prepared, wherein the country’s needs have been taken into account.
The production will start with a 50-seat model at the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Corporation based in the central city of Shahin Shahr, he said.
The civil aviation program includes a 10-year roadmap charting out the direction which it has to take according to the needs of the regional and extra-regional markets.
Iran’s aviation industry depended on foreign consultants, mainly Americans, before the 1979 Islamic Republic to keep the fleet airworthy, but amid the sanctions the job today is done by Iranian specialists.
“Sanctions in the aviation sector is a light word. We are in a full-scale war with the West. In this regard, we use all our capacities to make the sanctions ineffective and less effective, which we have been successful so far,” Mohammadi-Bakhsh said then.
