Iran’s McDonnell Douglas (MD) aircraft face grounding if airlines cannot meet a manufacturer’s maintenance requirement, with sanctions complicating access to parts and equipment, a former Iranian aviation representative told ILNA.
Alireza Manzari, Iran’s former representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), said the Civil Aviation Organisation had issued a circular barring flights by aircraft that failed to meet the requirement.
Around 52 MD aircraft are in Iran, forming a significant part of its fleet, he said. With restrictions limiting the purchase and import of replacements, a large-scale withdrawal would reduce available seats and could affect ticket prices.
Manzari said the issue concerned compliance with a manufacturer’s instruction or bulletin. Sanctions and difficulties obtaining equipment from abroad had made some required maintenance work impossible to carry out, he said.
The report did not identify the bulletin, give a compliance deadline or specify how many aircraft were already grounded. The figure of 52 refers to the aircraft in the country, rather than a confirmed number withdrawn from service.
Manzari put the average age of Iran’s MD aircraft at about 30 years. Ageing aircraft carry higher maintenance costs, but MD jets still operate in some countries with valid airworthiness certificates, he said.
While he described the regulator’s safety rationale as understandable, Manzari said some specialists and airlines favoured additional technical checks and closer oversight. They argue that aircraft should continue flying where those measures establish that they are safe to operate.
Sanctions have also disrupted Iran’s international air links. Iraq partly restored flights through Iraqi Airways in September after a suspension, followed by the carrier’s resumption of daily Najaf–Tehran services on October 8.
File photo: ATA Airlines MD-83 at Tabriz airport, 2011. Reza2475 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
