TEHRAN, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- About 40 percent of Iran's commercial air fleet are inactive because of the undersupply of parts caused by the U.S. sanctions, Iranian civil aviation chief said Tuesday.
"Now we have about 330 aircraft in the country ... Almost 60 percent of our fleet are active and the rest of it are grounded" because of engine problems and the supply shortage of other items and parts, Mohammad Mohammadi Bakhsh, head of Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).
Blaming the increasing U.S. sanctions for the problems, he also said "good progress" has been made "in the field of aircraft maintenance and soon good news about aircraft construction will be announced."
Bakhsh noted that after the 2015 nuclear deal was signed, Western companies were obliged to sell aircraft and spare parts to Iran, but they terminated the contracts and cut off after-sale services after the United States resumed sanctions in 2018.
The U.S. withdrawal from the deal and reinstatement of sanctions in 2018 have barred the sale of passenger planes and provision of parts and technical services to the Iranian aircraft.
