Iran required to replace ageing civilian aircraft

Iran, the target of international sanctions that frustrate the country\'s efforts to renew its ageing aircraft fleet, needs $5 billion (Dh18 billion) to purchase planes and navigation equipment, parliamentary member Mehrdad Lahouti said. \"Of the 215 aircraft that form the fleet, 150 will have to be retired in the coming five years,\" he told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency in Tehran. \"To replace these with planes built in 2000, Iran will need to allocate $4 billion to buy aircraft and $1 billion for navigation equipment.\" Political obstacles Iran has been seeking to modernise its fleet of foreign-built jetliners, which it operates amid political obstacles to the purchase of new planes and spare parts from suppliers such as Boeing and Airbus. The average age of Iran\'s passenger planes is 22 1/2 years and this needs to be decreased to 15 years, Lahouti said. The government is under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions because of its nuclear programme. The US stepped up its punitive measures against Iran last year, targeting foreign suppliers of aviation fuel and other refined oil products and blocking access to the US financial system for banks doing business with the country. Iran has suffered a spate of crashes in recent years. At least 77 died after a 37-year-old Boeing 727 passenger jet crashed in January 2010 and broke into pieces near the northern city of Orumiyeh. Iran removed all 17 Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft from its fleet in February following accidents involving the Russian-designed planes, Reza Nakhjavani, the head of Iran\'s Civil Aviation Organisation, said.