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TEHRAN. – About 40 percent of Iran’s commercial air fleet are inactive because of the undersupply of parts caused by the US sanctions, Iranian civil aviation chief said this week

“Now we have about 330 aircraft in the country … Almost 60 percent of our fleet are active and the rest of it are grounded” because of engine problems and the supply shortage of other items and parts, said Mohammad Mohammadi Bakhsh, head of Civil Aviation Organisation of Iran.

Blaming the increasing US sanctions for the problems, he also said “good progress” has been made “in the field of aircraft maintenance and soon good news about aircraft construction will be announced.”

Bakhsh noted that after the 2015 nuclear deal was signed, Western companies were obliged to sell aircraft and spare parts to Iran, but they terminated the contracts and cut off after-sale services after the United States resumed sanctions in 2018.

The US withdrawal from the deal and reinstatement of sanctions in 2018 have barred the sale of passenger planes and provision of parts and technical services to the Iranian aircraft. – Xinhua