First new Airbus jet lands in Tehran

First Airbus A321 plane, which Iran purchased in the post-sanction era, landed in the capital Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport on Thursday, official IRNA news agency reported.

In December, Iran sealed a contract with Airbus to buy 100 aircraft worth over 18 billion U.S. dollars.

Iran's Minister of Road and Urban Development Abbas Akhundi and his deputies, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and a number of parliament members were present in the airport upon the arrival of A321, the report said.

The Managing Director of the country's flag-carrier Iran Air, Farhad Parvaresh, and the Chief Executive Officer of France's Airbus Company Fabrice Bregier were among the passengers of the A321.

On Wednesday, Iran formally received the commercial plane from Airbus in France's Toulouse.

The delivery of the A321, as Iran's first brand-new plane in over 37 years, is the first in a batch of 100 jets purchased by Iran Air recently to renew its aged passenger fleet.

source: Xinhua