New Delhi: Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot has sent an Airbus A330 for maintenance to Iran’s largest airline Mahan Air, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Monday.
In a two-minute video filmed at Mahan Air’s maintenance hangar in the Imam Khomeini International Airport outside Tehran and released on IRNA’s social media platforms, a reporter can be heard saying that repair work on the Aeroflot aircraft, originally built in 2011, has commenced.
“The market for commercial aircraft repair and maintenance services is as valuable and extensive as the commercial aircraft’s sales market itself. Accordingly, for years, we have been witnessing the achievements and capabilities of [Iran] to localise the needs of this industry,” the IRNA reporter says, labelling Mahan Air’s maintenance hangar as “one of the most well-known and strategic centres” serving Iranian and foreign customers.
According to aviation news platform Simply Flying, the Airbus A330 had departed Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on 5 April and arrived at the Imam Khomeini International Airport the following morning.
This development comes amid US-led sanctions on both Aeroflot and Mahan Air due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and an alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to America in 2011.
The engagement between Aeroflot and Mahan Air also serves as an example of the strengthening of relations between Iran and Russia, following such sanctions.
In August 2022, Simply Flying reported that the two nations had signed a cooperation agreement for Iranian-made equipment and aircraft parts as well as carrying out “repair and maintenance services and technical support” of Russian aircraft.
This year has seen the relationship between Iran and Russia evolve further, with Tehran inking a deal to buy Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Moscow in March. The two countries also linked their interbank communication and transfer systems to facilitate trade and transactions in the light of US sanctions.
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