TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran is planning to manufacture 70-seated passenger planes in the near future, a senior aviation official announced on Sunday.

"We have designed a home-made passenger plane with the capacity for 70 passengers which will be manufactured in the near future," Managing Director of Iran�s Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Company Mohammad Ali Sirati told reporters on Sunday.

In November, Managing-Director of the Iranian Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) Manouchehr Manteqi said that his organization planned to manufacture 8-seater passenger planes.

"We will build planes with the capacity of eight passengers in the near future in addition to the present two-, four- and six-seater planes," Manteqi said, addressing the opening ceremony of the 7th International Air and Aviation Industries Exhibition on the Persian Gulf island of Kish.

He noted that a sum of 530 knowledge-based aviation companies are active in this field, and said, "We have foreseen� $100 billion in revenues from exports in this sector."

In 2013, Head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization Hamid Reza Pahlevani announced that a number of home-made passenger planes, capable of carrying 80, 100 and 150 passengers, will join the country's air fleet.

The Islamic Republic of Iran plans to manufacture three domestically-designed passenger planes by 2026, Pahlevani said at the time.

After purchasing the production license for the Antonov-140 from Ukraine in 2000, Iran built its first Iran-140 passenger plane in 2003.

By Fars News Agency