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Iran mulls purchase of Russian-made Tupolev plans

IRNA

Moscow, Nov 19, IRNA -- Head of Iran Civil Aviation Organization 
(ICAO) Hassan Haj Alifard was in Moscow last week to discuss purchase 
of Russian-made Tupolev 204 planes, the ICAO public relations 
department reported here Tuesday. 
Alifard headed a delegation which comprised of four committees on 
management, technical, operational and design. 
During their stay in Moscow they reviewed technical abilities of 
the aircraft in order to make an evaluation on the new generation of 
Tupolev planes. 
The delegation will present their findings later in Tehran. 
In related news, Minister of Road and Transportation Ahmad Khorram
said here in October that Iran is interested to purchase 30 new 
passenger planes from Russia and other countries to replace the aging 
or chartered aircraft. 
Khorram also ruled out any purchase of new passenger planes from 
Western countries. 
He said since the Russian-made Tupolev-154 planes consume a very 
large amount of fuel, "we have decided to cancel the related contracts
and also not to use dilapidated models such as Boeing 737, F 28 and 
Falcon 20." 
The Ministry of Road and Transportation has obtained the permit to
purchase 60 new cargo and passenger planes, he said. 
"We have negotiated with Russia to purchase Tupolev-204 jet planes
which consume less petrol even than similar western types," he said. 
The price range of Tupolev-204 is dlrs 22-28 million which is 
close to half of similar western-build aircraft, he said. 
NB/211 
End