Catching A $3 Billion Flight To Iran

Boeing Co. is lining up lucrative deals to supply Iran Aseman Airlines with jets

“They are going to have to balance manufacturing jobs with getting tough on Iran”

- Julie Johnsson, Terrence Dopp and Richard Clough

Boeing Co. landed its second jetliner sale to an Iranian airline since the 1970s, a $3 billion deal that sets up a test of the planemaker’s ties with President Donald Trump.

The pact with Iran Aseman Airlines to purchase 30 of Boeing’s 737 Max planes adds to a separate $16.6 billion agreement with Iran Air, which the Chicago-based manufacturer is still finalizing. If completed, the transactions would be the first U.S. aircraft exports to Iran since the Shah era.

The latest jet transaction puts Trump’s policy of promoting U.S. manufacturing jobs into conflict with the administration’s vow to take a tougher stance on the Islamic Republic. If the White House thwarts Boeing’s dealmaking, it also risks tilting the playing field in favor of Europe’s Airbus Group SEjust as global jet sales are slowing, said aerospace consultant Richard Aboulafia.

Boeing may be “setting themselves up for conflict with the Trump administration or Republicans in general,” said Aboulafia, vice president at Teal Group. “To a certain extent they are imposing a level of conflict on Republicans because they are going to have to balance manufacturing jobs to export markets with getting tough on Iran. It’s tough to thread that needle.”

Boeing shares rose 0.8 percent to $178.07 at 2:02 p.m. in New York. The gain was the third largest among the 30 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.