FNA- Iranian Deputy Road and Urban Development Minister Asqar Fakhrieh Kashan announced that several major European and Asian financers have voiced their willingness to fund the country's purchases of passenger planes from international aviation giants Airbus and Boeing.

"A sum of 9 financial institutions from Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Britain, China and Japan have offered Iran to fund the purchases," Fakhrieh Kashan said.

He underlined that proceedings to hold a tender to choose the financer for the purchases were underway, and said, "Tender documents would be sent out to potential bidders within a month."

In relevant remarks in April, CEO of Iran Air, national flag carrier, Farhad Parvaresh said that the Iranian airline will receive four ATR aircraft within three weeks given that the deadline for the French-Italian aircraft manufacturer has expired for a week.

Parvaresh also noted that, as per the contract with Boeing, the first Boeing 777 Wide-body jet airliner will be delivered to Iran Air in a year time.

He also pointed to the latest status of the negotiations with the largest German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG, and said, "Not long ago, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with Lufthansa on technical and operational training, catering and corporate restructuring as well as business cooperation; the agreement was recently implemented in the commercial sector though talks are still underway on other provisions."

The French-Italian ATR plane manufacturer has signed a contract with Iran Air to provide it with 20 planes. This is a third plane manufacturer after Airbus and Boeing had successfully signed lucrative deals with Iran. Efforts to sign a deal with Brazilian manufacturer Embraer had been uninspiring and plans were abandoned in favor of Airbus and Boeing.