Dubai: Boeing Co will likely open a commercial office in the Iranian capital of Tehran shortly after sanctions are lifted, regional President Bernie Dunn told Gulf News at the Dubai Airshow on Thursday.
“I could easily envision opening an office in Tehran,” Dunn, President of Boeing Middle East, North Africa and Turkey said.
The office will be used to resume commercial relations with Iranian airlines and officials once economic sanctions that have forbidden United States and other countries from doing business with Iran are lifted.
“We’re excited about the possibilities … for 36 years we’ve essentially not been able to talk to them. We need to get to know them again,” Dunn said.
Iran is to be granted sanction relief that will reintroduce the country to the global economy as part of July’s nuclear accord when Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme. According to Western and Iranian officials the sanctions could be lifted as soon as early 2016.
Boeing is not allowed to engage in commercial discussions with any Iranian company until the sanctions are lifted and Dunn said the US plane maker is still very much “staying aligned with the US government”.
He said he expects Boeing would be able to start commercial talks some time in 2016.
Boeing was granted a licence from the US Treasury Department in April 2014 to sell manuals and spare parts to Iranian airlines to help improve the safety of the country’s aircraft. That licence continues.
