TEHRAN (ISNA)- Airbus is poised to re-enter the Iranian aircraft market as the international community prepares to lift sanctions.

Fabrice Brégier, head of Airbus’s passenger jet unit, said the company had an understanding of future aircraft needs from Iranian airlines and officials.

We have made some contacts, yes,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. “This is potentially a huge market for Airbus and our competitors.”

However, he stressed that commercial discussions had not yet begun as western companies were banned from such talks until a nuclear agreement between Iran and P5+1 was implemented. This was expected in the next few weeks, paving the way to a lifting of Iranian sanctions.

“We are dependent on the resolution of the international negotiations,” said Brégier. “(After that) we would have no reason not to consider Iranian airlines as a normal customer like the rest of the world. We are very strict at applying all the international rules and regulations.”

Airbus and Boeing have been allowed under the existing sanctions regime to provide spare parts and safety manuals to Iran’s fleet, said Brégier. “We have contacts to support this fleet and we try to understand better what would be the requirements of these customers in the future,” he added.

Abbas Akhoundi, Iran’s minister of roads and urban development, said in November that the country could not afford an estimated cost of $50bn for new aircraft, which might make leasing jets a more reasonable proposition.

Iran finalized its nuclear agreement with P5+1 last summer, in a deal that should result in the lifting of sanctions.

By ISNA