Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia plans to sell up 100 passenger jets to Iran in what would be the largest such deal ever for Russia’s aviation industry, an official said Tuesday.
A contract is expected to be signed later this year and delivery of Tupolev Tu-204 and Tu-214 airliners could begin next year, said Maxim Sysoyev, a spokesman for Russia’s state-controlled United Aircraft Corporation.
The twin-engine Tu-204 and its Tu-214 version were designed in the late 1980s to compete with Boeing’s 757, but just a few dozen of the planes have been built.
Russian news reports put the cost of the deal at up to $2.5 billion
Iran has about a dozen Soviet-built Tu-154 airliners. In 2006, Russia negotiated the sale of five Tu-204s to Iran.
Amid Russia’s oil-driven economic boom of recent years, the Kremlin has put forward ambitious plans for the revival of the aircraft industry and aggressively courted foreign customers.
