ATR Looks for New Customers to Take Iran Air Planes Amid Lobbying Effort
July 18 2018 - 7:23AM
Dow Jones News
By Robert Wall
FARNBOROUGH, England--European turboprop airliner maker ATR has
begun efforts to find potential new customers for planes originally
intended for delivery to Iran Air, even as it continues efforts to
get U.S. government's approval to ship the airliners to the
original buyer.
ATR, jointly owned by Airbus SE (AIR.FR) and Italy's Leonardo
SpA (LDO.MI), in June lost its license to deliver 12 planes to Iran
Air. The company had previously delivered 8 planes of 20 Iran Air
had ordered.
President Donald Trump in May pulled the U.S. out of the Iranian
nuclear accord. That deal, finalized in 2015 between Iran and six
global powers, lifted sanctions on the Middle Eastern country in
return for Tehran agreeing to curb its nuclear program.
ATR has asked the U.S. authorities, specifically the Office of
Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department, to consider
allowing the remaining planes to go. "We are having a reasonable
dialogue with OFAC who understand the predicament their decision
puts us in," ATR Chief Executive Christian Scherer said.
Mr. Scherer was "reasonably optimistic" the situation could be
resolved, he said Wednesday.
ATR has begun looking for alternative customers who could take
the plane if the U.S. continues to block their export to Iran Air,
Mr. Scherer added. Some of the planes are already built.
Mr. Scherer said ATR should be able to achieve or at least get
close to its 80-plane full-year delivery target despite the
uncertainty over the Iran Air planes.
The Trump administration's move stopped billions of dollars of
deals that Western companies had struck with Iran since 2016 when
most of the sanctions were lifted. Plane purchases were among the
biggest transactions agreed with Tehran. Boeing Co. (BA) and Airbus
agreed to provide new jetliners to Iranian carriers, which have
some of the world's oldest airliner fleets after being subjected to
years of sanctions.
Boeing, the world's largest aircraft maker, stands to lose sales
to Iranian airlines of 110 planes valued at roughly $20 billion
before industry-standard discounts. The Iranian planes didn't yet
feature in the Chicago-based plane maker's production plans, Boeing
has said.
Airbus had delivered three planes for Iran Air after under a
pre-discount $20 billion deal for 100 planes. It has suspended
further handovers. Both Airbus and Boeing have said they would
comply with U.S. sanctions rules.
Though based in Toulouse, France, ATR requires U.S. export
approvals for its sales to Iran because many of the plane parts it
uses come from U.S. suppliers.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 18, 2018 07:08 ET (11:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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