Canada’s flag-carrier airline Bombardier says it has no concerns to find a foothold in Iran’s aviation market even though it has been late on chasing opportunities in Iran.
Bombardier’s CEO Alain Bellemare said he expects his company to be able to catch up with its rivals following Canada’s lifting of sanctions against Iran.
Bellemare added that Bombardier currently has teams on the ground in Iran, stressing that the company was not concerned about winning its share of new orders in the Iranian market.
The Montreal-based plane and train maker sees opportunities to sell regional rail services along with regional jets and CSeries planes as Iranian companies look to modernize, reported Canada’s Toronto Starnewspaper in an article on its website.
Iran has signed an agreement with the French plane-maker Airbus to purchase over 100 planes.
The country has also signed another agreement with the American aviation giant Boeing to buy some 80 passenger jets worth $25 billion at price lists.
The tentative deals have already hit a speed bump because major global banks are refusing to handle transactions with Iran for fear of running afoul of US sanctions on the country.
One major roadblock was lifted last month when the US government granted Airbus and Boeing permission to sell aircraft to the Islamic Republic.
Apart from Boeing and Airbus, Iran has also already started talks with Canada’s Bombardier, Brazil’s Embraer and Japan’s Mitsubishi over plane supply agreements.
Iran’s current civil aviation fleet consists of 248 aircraft with an average age of 20 years, of which 100 are grounded. Iranian officials have announced that the country needs as many as 500 jets to rejuvenate its aviation fleet.