Cartton by Dave Grunlund

Iran to form aircraft maintenance consortium with Russia, China, India: report

Aerotime: Iran will form an aircraft maintenance consortium together with Russia, China and India, reports indicate. 

The Head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran (CAO) Mohammad Mohammadi Bakhsh said the consortium will be formed in order to set the standards for aircraft repair services, according to Silk Road Briefing.  

Baksh also said Iran repaired six foreign aircraft from four countries in 2022 and will eventually manufacture its own aircraft. 

In July 2022, Iranian media began to report that a cooperation agreement regarding the delivery of Iranian-made aircraft parts to Russia had been signed between Russia and Iran. 

Iran will soon begin supplying aircraft parts in addition to drones to Russia after the two sanctioned countries sign a cooperation agreement.

Additionally, the reports suggested Iran would help Russia maintain its fleet of foreign-made aircraft and increase the frequency of flights to Russia. 

In March 2022, Russian Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev said the country would use “Iran’s experience” in circumventing Western sanctions imposed following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The invasion prompted many Western companies to stop supplying parts and aircraft to Russia, as well as carrying out maintenance on Russian-owned aircraft. 

The Silk Road Briefing report does not indicate which countries shipped aircraft to Iran for maintenance. 

Iran has been unable to legally purchase new aircraft and their parts for decades due to heavy sanctions. However, despite this, the country is known for maintaining and even growing its fleet of Western-made civil and military aircraft. 

AeroTime contacted CAO for comment.