[221216.EN.BIZ] Boeing Inks US$16.6 Billion Deal With Iran Air for 80 Aircraft

BOEING has finalised a US$16.6 billion contract to sell 80 passenger aircraft to Iran Air, comprising 50 B737s and 30 B777s, with deliveries slated to commence in 2018 and continue over a 10-year period, according to managing director Farhad Parvaresh of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization.

The sale followed President Barack Obama's lifting of economic sanctions on Iran in September. Shortly after the deal was signed, the US Treasury Department approved the delivery of Boeing passenger aircraft to Iran, reported UPI.

The lifting of sanctions is an offshoot of the Iran accord, reached in July 2015 between the United Nations Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia -- and Germany. The agreement was opposed by Republican legislators and President-elect Donald Trump, who called it "the stupidest deal of all time."

Boeing touted the benefits of the deal for US workers. "Today's agreement will support tens of thousands of US jobs directly associated with production and delivery of the 777-300ERs and nearly 100,000 US jobs in the US aerospace value stream for the full course of deliveries," the aircraft manufacturer was cited as saying in a release.

Source : HKSG.