Iranian deputy road minister has announced that a Japanese delegation will arrive in Iran in December to discuss selling aircraft to Iranian airlines.

Deputy Minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Road and Urban Development Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan made the remarks noting “given that Iran Aseman Airlines performs domestic and provincial flights across the country, Japan’s 100-seat Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) remains a suitable option for the Iranian carrier.”

The official underlined that 20 airplanes will be purchased from the Japanese aircraft manufacturer under a Lease-Purchase contract;

“the Japanese side has promised to ponder upon Iran’s request and the second working group will pursue negotiations in Tehran in December.”

Fakhrieh Kashan also touched upon the plan to buy small ATR aircraft (a subsidiary of France’s Airbus) asserting “Iran requires more than 20 small airplanes in order to activate and economize numerous small airports inside the country, hence the talks with other aircraft manufacturers.”

Deputy road minister referred to his earlier visit to Japan underscoring “following the plan to renovate Iran Air’s fleet with Airbus, we launched talks with Japan’s Mitsubishi in order to refurbish Aseman Airlines by purchasing 20 MRJ aircraft.”

Iran has already signed a draft agreement worth $27 billion with Airbus to buy 118 jets, including 45 A320 single-aisle aircraft, 45 A330 wide-bodies, 16 A350 twin-aisle aircraft, and 12 A380’s.