Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Abbas Akhoundi, says the country is considering acceding to the Cape Town Convention (CTC) as a means of facilitating fleet renewal across Iran's airline fleets.

Signed in 2001, the Cape Town Convention is an international treaty intended to standardize transactions involving movable property. Insofar as aircraft are concerned, it allows foreign lenders and lessors to register an Irrevocable De-registration and Export Request Authorization (“IDERA”) with a country's civil aviation regulator in the event a locally-based lessee defaults on a contract.

As such, Akhoundi told Reuters that while the Iranian government was studying the merits of the accord, formal accession would require parliamentary approval.

If the CTC is adopted, it will also facilitate, by means of sale/lease-back agreements, the acquisition of the 250+ aircraft IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) wishes to source from Airbus, ATR - Avions de Transport Régional, and Boeing.

To date, only sixty-four states and the European Union, have signed and ratified the treaty.

Despite not being a signatory to the CTC, the ch-aviation aircraft database shows the Iranian market is still a strong destination for foreign-owned and operated aircraft. At present, the bulk of foreign-owned aircraft on lease to Iranian carriers come from Ukraine and the CIS. Known suppliers include: Air Kyrgyzstan; Bravo Airways (Ukraine); Khors Aircompany; Bukovyna Airlines; Jordan Aviation; and UM Air.