Bombardier Says Iranian Sales Talks Progressing

Reports that Bombardier is involved in launching an airline in Iran are inaccurate, the Canadian plane maker said, although it confirmed it was in talks for sales as its executive chairman visited the country.

Bombardier chairman Pierre Beaudoin led a delegation of company aviation and rail executives to Iran last week, but no deal has been reached yet on sales with Iranian customers, a company spokeswoman said.

Aviation Iran reported on Saturday that Bombardier signed a memorandum of understanding with officials from Iran's Qeshm Free Zone on establishing an airline.

Citing an anonymous source, Bloomberg reported on Sunday that Qeshm Free Zone officials hoped to conclude a deal with Bombardier in the next two months on a project to set up an airline in the southern Qeshm island.

The spokeswoman said Bombardier did not plan to launch and run a new airline, but she could not say specifically whether the Montreal-based company was holding talks to sell aircraft to an Iranian start-up.

"We build, market and sell aircraft and trains," she said. "We are advancing in discussions… We are visiting more often."

Bombardier's CSeries passenger jet is years behind schedule, billions of dollars over budget and has won relatively few orders so far compared with its rivals.

Canada said in February it was lifting some sanctions against Iran, allowing Bombardier to compete against Airbus and Boeing.

Airbus agreed in January to sell Iran 118 planes worth about USD$27 billion at list prices. A delegation from Boeing visited Iran earlier in April to discuss sales,