May 13, 2016
The head of Iran Air, Farhad Parvaresh, said Monday that German and French banks would underwrite Iran’s purchase of Airbus aircraft.
“Airbus has coordinated with German and French banks to finance the purchase of passenger planes and our project will be finalized in the next two months,” Parvaresh told the Fars news agency.
The banks were not named.
“One of the main duties of the aircraft manufacturers is helping to find the proper financiers, while Iran Air is also looking for financiers with more favorable conditions,” Parvaresh said.
The tentative agreement signed with Airbus – a memorandum of understanding – envisages Iran buying 118 new planes. The list price of the aircraft is $27 billion.
Iran is also in talks with Boeing and has said it wants a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing for its large aircraft. Russian planemakers have been left by the wayside.