Page 39 - IRANRptJun18

9.2.3 Transport corporate news
The CEO of state-owned Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, on May 23 said that his firm's railway electrification projects in Iran will not be affected by the imposition of new US sanctions against the country, Sputnik reported. Russia has loaned I ran more than €2bn euros for the development of the Iranian railway system, which Russian companies are being given development rights for. Italian firms Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane and Germany’s Siemens also have existing contracts in Iran which are set to be fulfilled. “In Iran, we will be engaged in electrification, which is related directly to rail transport. We believe that this is a completely civilian project that does not fall under the [American] sanctions, but we are clarifying it,” Belozerov said. The part of the Iranian railway network Belozerov mentioned is the Garmsar-Sari-Gorgan-Inche Burun route to the border of Turkmenistan. That specific project is estimated to have a cost of €1.2bn, with financing originating from the Russian state export credit agency. The electrification process is part of the North-South Transport Corridor which connects Moscow to Iran’s southern ports on the Sea of Oman in Chabahar. The Garmsar project will kick off in July, the official added.
Two Iranian airlines, Iran Aseman Airlines and Iran Air Tours, signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia’s Sukhoi for the delivery of an initial 40 SuperJet 100 passenger planes on the sidelines of the Eurasia Airshow in Turkey on April 26. The new deals were announced a day after Boeing said it had found a new home for 80 aircraft that Iran ordered earlier this year, given that the Trump administration scraps US participation in the nuclear deal the delivery of the jets would not be permitted. This would be a substantial blow to Iran’s airline industry which suffers from dated and depleted fleets. According to the Sukhoi orders, Iran will receive the SSR100R version of the SuperJet regional airliner by 2022, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft president Aleksandr Rubtsov said after the signing ceremony.
“So far, we have signed two agreements of intent with two Iranian airlines on deliveries of 20 Sukhoi Superjet aircraft in the RRJ-95R (SSJ100R) modification for each of these companies,” Rubtsov said. He added that the contract would be signed by the end of 2018. The catalogue price for an SSJ100R aircraft is about $52mn.
AirAsia X, the long-haul budget carrier of Malaysia-based AirAsia, has announced it is suspending flights from Kuala Lumpur to Tehran, following pressure from the US, the New Straits Times reported on April 17. AirAsia X chief executive officer Benyamin Ismail told the newspaper that though the response on the Kuala Lumpur–Tehran route “has been good, the suspension is due to the US plans to re-impose heavy sanctions against Iran”. The low-cost airline is the latest in a string of East Asian companies to pull out of the Iranian market despite the massive demand for flights to destinations like Thailand and Malaysia. In February, Thai Airways International confirmed it would end flights to Tehran by the end of the month. It said the flights were not profitable and that demand was not high enough to justify continuing through the summer. Etihad Airways, the flagship airline of the United Arab Emirates, cancelled its daily flights from Abu Dhabi to Tehran, claiming the route was unprofitable. However, the anecdotal evidence from passengers pointed to it being one of the busiest international flights available in Iran.
39 IRAN Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com