Addressing a group of Iranian passenger plane pilots in Tehran on Wednesday, Velayati described highly developed civil aviation industry as one of the main features of a modern administration.
“In order to compensate for current shortcomings and realize growth, we need a number of factors: the most outstanding of which is [the presence of] qualified and intelligent people,” he said.
Velayati went on to say, “The second factor is the use of advanced aircraft.”
The former foreign minister also criticized past administrations for their failure to upgrade Iran civil aviation industry.
Velayati noted that if proper policies had been adopted, "something which is still possible," Iran could purchase the best airliners and make use of them.
“The government must make sure everything is up to the standards … that the plane purchased is of a distinguished make, documents are valid, the contract is compelling, and repair, maintenance, and [supply of] spare parts are guaranteed. This must be supervised by the administration, and [the rest] must be done by the people,” he added.
The Iranian presidential candidate said, “The next point is more training. Aviation education, pilot training, aviation engineering education and navigation education must be updated with the passage of time. In other words, we should have retraining for our pilots."
Velayati stressed that to achieve civil aviation industry's goals domestic resources should be taken advantage of.
“Another point that can greatly help us as a resource to cover our expenses is the use of the Iranian air space. Pundits tell us that many airliners flying from west to east or vice versa would substantially save on jet fuel, the price of which is always going up, if they fly over Iran,” Velayati stated.