Iran has many economic sanctions imposed upon it, and as a result its airlines have difficulty in obtaining new aircraft to fly. Therefore, you find a lot of older types still flying there which date back to the early generations of jet airliners.
However, as sourcing spare parts is even difficult, these airliners can only fly so long and the airlines need to find alternative ways of replacing them.
One such way is to obtain aircraft from owners in countries through which sanctions are not in place, such as Kyrgyzstan.
This is what Iran Air has arranged. Their older Boeing 747-100, -200 and SP aircraft are in need of replacement, and a solution has been found in three former Qantas Boeing 747-338 aircraft that have recently been retired by the airline.
These aircraft will be joining the fleet from April and May this year. If the interior configuration used by Qantas is still in place, it will see an improvement in comfort since they were outfitted to match the 747-400 fleet internally.
The aircraft may be approved to fly international routes, which with the -100 and -200 aircraft had been banned by many countries on safety grounds.
If you see one in action, why not post a photo on our Facebook page?
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