Iran Aseman Airlines CEO, Kambiz Babaei, lies to press about fleet age

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Member for

11 years 7 months

Posts: 14

The CEO of Iran Aseman Airlines, Kambiz Babaei, has declared to London's Financial Times that the average age of aircraft in his airlines fleet is "only 10 years", despite the fact that it's closer to 20!

To quote from the Financial Times:
"Mr Babaei said the average age of his fleet of 31 aircraft was only 10 years, despite the sanctions imposed on the country".

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/eccdecfe-79c4-11e2-9015-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LB7fu0o5

Anyone familiar with Iran's airlines will know that Babaei either doesn't have a clue about his own airline, or is a pathological liar who thinks he can make false statements to the international press without anybody noticing.

The average age of the Iran Aseman Airlines fleet is actually closer to 20+ years, not to mention the fact that they still have a considerable number of 30+ year old Boeing 727's in active service:

http://fleet.myaviation.ir/aseman.htm

So the question is, why is Babaei lying about the fleet age, and should a person lacking integrity like Babaei be trusted when it comes to safety matters? I think not.

Original post

Member for

11 years 8 months

Posts: 569

Interesting that the FT journalist didn't do a follow-up just to check the validity of Mr Babaei's comments.
If the FT can have the wool pulled over their eyes by a failing small-scale airline exec - I wonder what else is printed without due journalistic diligence in our national newspapers?

I believe what Mr Babaei means is his fleet has been, on average, with the company less than 10 years - although this is quite different from what he said.
http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/Iran%20Aseman%20Airlines-active-f100.htm

It's good to see the sanctions are working though :)

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,886

It's good to see the sanctions are working though :)

Yes, thats all very well, but remember, the crews and other staff who work in these airlines for their living, are not responsible for the politics of the Iranian regime. I'm quite sure that like me, you're not deriving any satisfaction from the plight of these crews and their passengers, flying on these dated, and due to the sanctions, potentially dangerous aircraft every day. Sanctions are fine when correctly targeted. Sadly, there's always the innocent that get caught up in them, and personally, I would put civilian aircrew and their passengers firmly in that category.