TEHRAN -– Deputy Transport Minister Ahmad Majidi has announced that the purchase of second-hand passenger planes from Eastern countries has been banned.

The decision was made as Majidi held talks on Sunday night with Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, members of the Majlis Construction committee, and Alaeddin Broujerdi, the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee chairman.
Iran suffered two flight disasters within nine days: one at Mashhad’s Shahid Hasheminejad Airport on July 24 and the other near the northwest city Qazvin on July 15.
Aria Air Flight 1525 took off from Tehran on Friday and touched down at Mashhad’s Shahid Hasheminejad Airport at 6:20 p.m. local time with 153 onboard, but it experienced a tire burst, skidded on the runaway, and hit the airport fence and an electricity pylon, leaving 16 dead and 31 injured. Aria Air Managing Director Mahdi Dadpay was among the dead.
Nine days before the Aria Air accident, Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 -- a 23-year-old Russian-made Tupolev Tu154M plane – crashed near Qazvin, killing all 153 passengers and 15 crew members aboard.
“The Majlis speaker insisted on strict observation of flight standards, recruiting best experts in the aviation organization, and a renovation of airplanes,” Majidi told the ISNA news agency Monday.
He said Larijani insisted on an overhaul of the Russian-made airplanes used by Iranian air fleet and purchasing newly-built Russian airplanes after their safety standards are carefully examined.
Majidi also said the parliamentarians present at the Sunday night meeting pledged to allocate the necessary budget for buying new airplanes.
The director of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, Mohammad Ali Ilkhani, said on Sunday that “high speed” was the cause of the plane crash.
Ilkhani added investigations show that there was a kind of disorder in the cockpit and the pilot was consequently not able to concentrate enough to control the plane.
Majidi also dismissed rumors that a quarrel in the cockpit was to blame for the mishap in Mashhad’s airport.
“There had been no quarrel,” he noted.
The deputy minister also said Dadpay, a former pilot, had been in the cockpit and had warned the pilot of high speed at the time of landing and given some suggestions on how to control the plane.
However, he said, Dadpay’s presence in the cockpit was a violation on the part of the pilot