April 15, 2016
Iranian officials talking to reporters are throwing around all sorts of numbers about Iran’s desires to buy new airplanes, but a senior official says the focus for now is on leasing, not buying aircraft.
Ahmad-Reza Bayati told reporters the focus is on leasing because the low oil price means the government doesn’t have the cash to buy many planes now.
Furthermore, most aircraft manufacturers have long order lists and cannot deliver aircraft to anyone filing an order this year for a few more years.
Among the leasing aircraft companies recently in Iran for talks, Bayati mentioned two European firms, Avolon and AerCap.
Leasing is actually quite common in the business, and leasing firms own about 40 percent of all large passenger aircraft. Leasing is popular because it allows an airline to get rid of planes if business turns bad. Otherwise, they would have a lot of capital tied up in non-performing assets.
Bayati said actual purchases are likely for short-haul and medium haul aircraft, but not long-range planes. He said companies such as Bombardier of Canada, Embraer of Brazil, ATR, a French-Italian firm, and Airbus of Europe have come to Iran chiefly to negotiate about the short-haul and medium-haul aircraft.