VIDEO: Iran receives 4 new ATR planes from Franco-Italian aviation player

Iran has received the first batch of medium-range planes that it has purchased from Franco-Italian aviation player ATR.   

Four ATR 72-600 turboprop planes landed in Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport on a direct flight from the French city of Toulouse.

The planes – the first from a total of 20 planes that are expected to be handed over to Iran – were handed over to national flag-carrier Iran Air on Tuesday.

This brings the number of new additions to the Iranian aviation fleet to seven after earlier deliveries of three Airbus planes.

Iran expects to receive five more ATRs by the end of 2017.

The value of the deal sealed with the company is estimated to be around $500 million.

The planes – all ATR 72-600 – are twin-propeller aircraft that can carry 70 passengers.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan told IRNA state news agency that up to 20 percent of the prepayment had been made by Iran. The rest of the due payments, he added, would be made by foreign financers.

Iran Air Managing Director Farhad Parvaresh told reporters in Tehran last month that his company had an option to purchase another 20 planes from the French-Italian company.

Back in April, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi was quoted by domestic media as saying that the ATR planes would be mostly used for flights to Iran’s small airports.