Russian airframer Sukhoi’s civil aircraft division claims it has yet to hear from US regulators regarding possible clearance of Superjet 100 sales to Iran.
The Superjet’s manufacture comprises more than 10% US-sourced components, which means that – under US government sanctions criteria – the aircraft type needs approval for sale to Iran.
But Sukhoi Civil Aircraft states that, while it had submitted a request to US authorities, it had not received “any feedback”, either positive or negative, by the close of 2018 on the matter of export to Iran.
Iran Air and other carriers had been undertaking fleet-modernisation efforts with Airbus, Boeing and other manufacturers after nuclear-related sanctions were eased in 2015.
But the sanctions were reinstated by the Trump administration last year, with only three Airbus jets and a batch of ATR turboprops being delivered.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft has been working on a component substitution strategy which intends to give the company greater delivery freedom by cutting the proportion of foreign parts in its Superjet 100.
“Costs of operating the modified product will be significantly reduced,” it says, adding that a repricing measure for certain components will improve the efficiency of the programme overall.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
