Source: Press TV

Head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization Hamidreza Pahlevani says his country will add 10 new passenger planes to the national fleet by the next few months.

Pahlevani said on Sunday that two passenger planes have already joined the Iranian civil air fleet, and the rest will be in service in the coming months.

Iran has several private and public airline companies in operation. The oldest is state-run Iran Air.

The expansion of Iran's civil aircraft fleet comes despite the US-led sanctions against the country's civil aviation industry ever since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Based on the sanctions, international companies are banned from selling aircraft or the spare parts to Iran.

Iranian civilian plane crashes have increased by five times since the 1980s, and since 2001, 15 major civilian planes have crashed. Seven of these planes were American Boeing jets and Lockheed C-130s, arguably the safest aircrafts available. Yet, they have frequently crashed due to "mechanical failures."

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