Abu Dhabi: Boeing, the world’s largest plane maker, and engine maker General Electric (GE) will not enhance facilities that produce parts for older fleets and engines following the US approval to sell commercial parts to Iran.
“When it comes to older aircraft we have a specific part of Boeing that focuses on out of production aircraft,” said Randy J. Tinseth, Vice President – Marketing Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Last week, Boeing and GE announced that they had each received a licence from the United States Treasury to sell spare commercial parts for the safety of flight under temporary sanction relief that began in January.
“Both we and several of our partners have capability in the assets that are flown in Iran so should there be maintenance that is required there is lots of capability to deal with that,” said William A. Fitzgerlad, Vice President and General Manager – Commercial Engines Operation at GE Aviation.
Discussions are believed to begin immediately. However, Tinseth declined to comment on whether discussions with Iranian officials have begun.
“Any discussions we have between our customer and us, we hold closely,” he said.
“We have a licence now and that licence gives us an opportunity to sell commercial parts for safety of flight to the Iranian commercial aviation industry,” he added.
Following guidelines
Fitzgerald said, “We’re following the guidelines that the State Department has set forth associated with that … We have a small fleet that’s there [in Iran] …. [And] we will make sure that we’re compliant and the [parts] will be as safe as they can be,”
The sales would be the first between US aerospace companies and Iran since the 1979 revolution. The US has imposed sanctions on Iran since 1979, which have been broadened in response to Iran’s nuclear activities.
Tinseth and Fitzgerald were attending the Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi.