On December 14, 2018, a Norwegian Boeing 737 MAX 8 bound from Dubai to Oslo diverted to Shiraz, Iran. This diversion was due to an engine issue, and as usual, in a situation like that the priority is to get the plane on the ground as quickly and safely as possible.
The 186 passengers and six crew were flown to Oslo the next day on a “rescue” flight operated by a different plane.
However, for the plane itself this diversion presented a bigger issue than most were anticipating. While Norwegian sent engineers to Iran to try and fix the plane the next day, they weren’t able to do so, and realized they needed to replace parts of the engine.
One not-so-small problem — due to US trade sanctions on Iran, getting permission to actually get products from Boeing to Iran proved to be a major headache. This is the same reason that Iran’s airlines aren’t able to buy new Boeing planes (and this presents huge safety issues — Iran Air and Mahan Air buy used Boeing planes, but in some instances can’t perform proper maintenance on them since they can’t get new parts).
Since any product that’s more than 10% of US origin requires a license to be sent to Iran, this has been a bureaucratic headache. But it looks like there’s finally some good news on this front.
As noted by Reuters, a Norwegian spokesperson has said that the airline now has a new engine being flown to Iran, and they’re hoping the plane will be able to leave the country within the next week:
“We are in the process of having a new engine flown to Iran for our Boeing 737 MAX within the next few days. It is too early to say exactly when the aircraft will be airborne, but our goal is to fly the aircraft back to Scandinavia within the next week.”
It has already been well over two months since the plane diverted, so it looks like in the end the plane will have been on the ground in Iran for 2.5 months… and that’s the best case scenario.
I understand rules are rules, but one has to wonder how this would be handled in the future, and to what extent pilots would be discouraged from diverting to Iran in cases like this, even if it’s in the best interest of passengers otherwise.
I’ll update this post when the plane has actually taken off from Iran, since it’s not over until it’s over…
There was a recent episode of Planet Money about this incident for anyone interested in learning more.
The US sanction laws should be revisited as it appears not written to serve their purpose. They cause problems for planes make emergency landing in Iran and also for the Iranian passenger planes simply seek to purchase parts to continue their safe operation in the sky.
@Dylan
What about North Korea?
@dotti. This whole things is about US politics. What else?
In Shanghai stay in Shanghai if USA is soooo bad someone always brings up politics???
Dylan - read some of the reports - even on here - that the passengers were actually treated very well by the Iranians with no complaints before spouting off nonsense.
There is nothing wrong with Iran. It is less horrible than Saoedi Arabia. But there is something completely wrong with the US government.
Still on its way, just reached the European continent: https://www.flightradar24.com/NAX8921/
Where's James gone ?..?
They are making a big deal about the plane, but what about the passenger experience. I cannot imagine the headaches those passengers went through before being able rescued. If there was one country I would not want to get stranded in would be Iran.
According to e24.no an hour ago Norwegian have now confirmed that the aircraft is en route to ARN (Stockholm) and will arrive there in a few hours from now.
I can't find it on flightradar24.com thoug.
Actually, I'm wondering why they couldn't have pulled another [working] engine from another plane, flown *that* to Iran (it's not new direct from Boeing...no license required), and simply order the nw engine from Boeing shipped to Norway...
Its in the air!
Iran is actually a signatory of the ICAO convention and aircraft going to Europe routinely fly over Iran. It’s actually safe to fly over Iran.
Seems particularly strange since the part is for a non-Iranian plane that would leave Iran as soon as it was installed. Perhaps political interference with the approval process, or that there are so many unfilled positions in the Trump-era State Department that things are just not getting done?
Is James still around? I thought the Norwegian-flight-stuck-in-Iran was his beat? We haven’t heard from James in a while.
I also wondered why they didn't go back to Dubai. I get safety and all but was it that bad that they could only fly to Iran?
Minor correction, it was a 737 MAX 8, not a 737-800
Still wondering why they didn't just turn around and go back to Dubai or divert to Doha, considering they weren't even over Iranian soil when the decision was made to divert. Both of those airports would've been much closer, and much better-equipped to handle an emergency and repair a broken plane, than anyplace in Iran.
Good on Lucky for keeping this bizarre story going.