"We have finalized a contract for purchase of six more passenger planes and another contract for purchase of 20 other ATR aircraft is being drawn up with the Franco-Italian plane manufacturer," Iran Air CEO Farzaneh Sharafbafi told reporters on the sidelines of an ATR plane at Bandar Abbas International Airport on Thursday.
She noted that the new ATR planes will fly in ten domestic flight routes.
"The next stage will be to have the ATR aircraft fly in the flight routes of the Persian Gulf littoral states," she added.
She expressed hope that all purchased ATR aircraft will be delivered to Iran by the end of 2018 as mentioned in the contract in order to boost the country’s aviation sector.
In a relevant development in April, Iran signed a deal on the purchase of 20 ATR 72-600 with ATR as a third aircraft manufacturer after having signed lucrative deals with Airbus and Boeing following the implementation of the nuclear deal.
The first package including four out of the twenty purchased ATR aircraft landed in Tehran in May 17, followed by two more on September 29.
The ATR 72-600 has a range of 1,500km and 70 seats.