Summary

  • Iran has successfully reverse engineered engine turbine blades for McDonnell Douglas aircraft, reducing costs significantly.
  • Due to economic sanctions, Iran’s airlines previously faced high expenses for spare parts, leading to grounded aircraft.
  • Iran’s breakthrough may benefit other countries with fleets affected by foreign sanctions.

Iran is working on getting its fleet of McDonnell Douglas back in service after reverse engineering the turbine blades used in its engines. Due to ongoing economic sanctions, the country’s airlines have to pay exorbitant prices to acquire these blades from abroad, but they won’t need to anymore.

Iran manufacturing its own engine turbine blades

According to a report from Tasnim, scientists at MAPNA AERO, a subsidiary of the Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (MAPNA) Group, now know how to manufacture engine turbine blades for the JT8D engine. According to the company’s CEO, Mani Rezvani, after successfully constructing prototype blades for the JT8D engine around two months ago, the first McDonnell Douglas aircraft to be equipped with the domestic-made blades will be activated on June 20th.

MD-8 Kish Air

Photo: Mike Fuchslocher | Shutterstock

Much like the situation we have seen in Russia in the past couple of years, Iran is not able to acquire the necessary parts for its Western-made aircraft due to economic sanctions that have been in place for decades. This has led to the country’s airlines acquiring spare parts at more expensive rates, or resorting to means like cannibalizing aircraft to use its parts for other planes in need.

The cost of the homemade turbine blades is almost one-third cheaper than acquiring them from abroad. According to Rezvani, the blades will cost around $8,000 to produce inside the country, while purchasing them elsewhere costs around $22,000. It seems the parts have not yet received formal certification by the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, but Rezvani said they are expected to receive this authorization shortly.

28 of 40 planes grounded

As a result of the dearth of affordable spare parts available, 28 of the country’s approximately 40 MD aircraft have been grounded, significantly hampering local airlines’ ability to operate. As mentioned previously, the first aircraft to fly with the new blades will be activated later this month, with plans to start mass-producing the blades for use in other aircraft, and possibly other engine types too, pending official permission.

md-83 caspian

Photo: EvrenKalinbacak | Shutterstock

Other countries with fleets affected by foreign sanctions, such as Russia and Venezuela, may also stand to benefit from this reverse engineering breakthrough, as Iran plans on exporting the blades in the long-term. Engineers at Russian carrier S7 Airlines were recently reported to have made a breakthrough in maintaining the CFM56 engine used on Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft – this engine is believed to power up to 800 Russian aircraft.

Related

Sanction Reaction: Russia’s S7 Airlines Reverse-Engineers Engine Repairs For Boeing 737s & Airbus A320s

S7 Airline engineers are now reported to have been able to maintain some Western jet engines and keep the aircraft flying.

According to data from ch-aviation, there are over 40 MD aircraft registered with Iranian carriers, including ATA Airlines, Caspian Airlines, Chabahar Airlines, Iran Airtour, Kish Air and Zagros Airlines. The majority of MD planes in the country are MD-82 and MD-83 variants, alongside a small number of MD-87 and MD-88 jets, all of which are powered by the JT8D.

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