TEHRAN -- Iran on Sunday officially inducted the first Iran-140 passenger plane, built with the help of Ukraine, into its aviation fleet at Mehrabad Airport here.

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said during the inauguration ceremony before heading for a tour of the factory in central Isfahan Province where the 52-seat twin-turboprop airliners are manufactured, that the plane enjoys "international safety standards", IRNA reported.

"The plane will officially enter the aviation line today (Sunday) after passing a flight test", said Captain Morteza Khani, a manager of HESA, Iran's aircraft manufacturing company.

The airliner is will be used for flights of the semi-official Safiran and Caspian airlines, which have applied to introduce the plane into their fleets in the next two months, the official added.

Ukraine sold the production license for 100 An-140s to Iran in 2000. Iran is the only foreign market the cash-strapped Antonov aircraft company has managed to enter.

The airliner, with a high wing configuration and traditional tail unit as well as engines decked under its wings, has a range of 2,100 kilometers at a cruising speed of up to 575 kph.

Priced at nine million dollars according to the media, it is one of the world's cheapest medium-range aircraft. However, the crash of an Antonov-140 in December in central Iran threatened to sink the airliner's prospects in the Islamic Republic.

The plane, carrying Ukrainian specialists to inaugurate a new aircraft that Antonov had built in Iran, crashed into mountains as it was descending to land in Shahin-Shahr, killing all 44 people aboard.

Iranian officials were quick to stress that the crash would in no way affect the plan to build Iran-140 aircraft.

Iranian airlines are seeking to refurbish their aging fleet and meet demands in the face of rising passenger numbers, despite their financial troubles and U.S. sanctions which bar the sale of aircraft and parts to the Islamic Republic.

More than 100 Russian and Ukrainian enterprises are reportedly involved in Iran's production of the An-140, with some 80 percent of parts coming from Russia.

Morteza Khani said that the entire production process of the aircraft will be carried out in Iran after 12 years.

The production line has cost Iran $253 million and will have the capacity to assemble 12 aircraft per year. Iran, Russia, and Ukraine are reportedly looking at a possible joint project to assemble Tupolev-334 jets in Iran.