BA Boeing Co

By Robert Wall

TOULOUSE, France--Iran Air's chief executive, Farhad Parvaresh, Wednesday said he remained optimistic the incoming Trump administration wouldn't derail the carrier's plan to buy new jetliners from Airbus SE (AIR.FR) and Boeing Co. (BA).

Mr. Parvaresh said the international licenses for the plane deliveries were in hand, adding, "We hope that nothing special happens to end this contract."

Iran Air late last year finalized deals to buy 100 planes from Airbus and another 80 from Boeing, the world's largest maker of jetliners. The orders are worth more than $34.5 billion at list price, though buyers typically get deep discounts.

Mr. Parvaresh spoke at Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse during a ceremony marking the first delivery of an Airbus A321 single-aisle plane. It is the first brand-new plane the carrier has received in decades. The aircraft technically was already turned over to Iran Air several days ago and is due in Tehran Thursday to be used initially in domestic service.

The plane deals between the world's two biggest plane makers and state-owned Iran Air have been controversial. They are the highest-profile commercial agreements between Western firms and Iran since the completion of a 2015 nuclear pact between world powers, including the U.S., and Tehran. In exchange for Iran putting curbs on its nuclear program, the powers agreed to lift many sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

But opponents of the easing of sanctions in the U.S. have tried to block the aircraft sales. U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has appointed critics of the easing of Iran sanctions to key posts, though he hasn't said whether he would try to block the transactions.

An Airbus executive said he expected the U.S. to honor the licenses that have been issued.

Iran Air expects to take delivery of around five more single-aisle planes this year and three A330 long-range jets as part of fleet-renewal plans, Mr. Parvaresh said. Two of the narrowbody planes could be delivered in the coming weeks.

Iran Air isn't due to receive the first of its Boeing jets until next year and the U.S. plane maker has yet to add the order to its official backlog after signing the contract in December. A spokesman this week said it was still working through "contingencies" related to the planned sale, including government approvals.

Iran Air also expects to soon conclude talks to buy 20 turboprop airliners from the Franco-Italian ATR joint venture involving Airbus and Leonardo SpA.

Mr. Parvaresh said the Airbus and Boeing deals should satisfy Iran Air's fleet-modernization and expansion needs for the medium term.

He said the airline could eventually consider buying more planes. He wouldn't rule out an eventual purchase of Airbus's flagship A380 super jumbo.

Iran Air originally considered buying 12 of those planes, but decided against them. Iran's aging aviation infrastructure wouldn't have been able to handle the aircraft at this time, he said.

--Doug Cameron contributed to this article.

Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 11, 2017 10:05 ET (15:05 GMT)

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