Iran Air has taken delivery of a new Airbus A330-200, the first of 45 A330-family jets on order. The delivery continues the implementation of Iran Air’s major fleet renewal plan, launched in December 2016 with a firm order for 100 Airbus airplanes, including 46 single-aisle A320-family jets, 38 A330s and 16 A350s. Iran Air took the first airplane on order—a CFM56-powered A321—on January 11.

Iran Air’s A330-200 features a two-class cabin layout, seating 32 passengers in business and 206 in economy.

Airbus forecasts that Iran will require some 400-to-500 new aircraft to modernize and expand its existing passenger fleet to catch up with years of pent-up demand on domestic and international routes. 

The latest delivery comes some six weeks after the inauguration of a new U.S. Presidential administration openly critical of the Obama administration-brokered nuclear settlement with Iran that allowed for the resumption of sales of civil aircraft to the Islamic Republic. Although the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) granted licenses for the deal in September and November, as required for any export of aircraft possessing more than 10 percent U.S. technology content, questions surrounding the political environment and its potential effect on the deal remain. In fact, Republican politicians in the U.S. Congress have pledged to block a separate deal between Boeing and Iran Air calling for delivery of fifty 737 Max 8s, fifteen 777-300ERs and fifteen 777-9s valued at $16.6 billion at list prices.