(Reuters) – While foreign ministers raced to Geneva for a crucial phase of talks over Iran’s nuclear activities earlier this month, passengers with the country’s national airline faced a little-noticed drama on the other side of the world.

As a 37-year-old Boeing 747 climbed out of Beijing bound for Tehran, the Iranian crew received a cockpit alert that one of the jumbo jet’s four Pratt & Whitney engines was on fire.

The Iran Air pilots shut the engine down, activated a fire suppression system and flew back to the Chinese capital.

Both the November 8 incident and the actions taken to remedy it, as reported by accident database Aviation Herald, highlight the juggling act needed to keep Iran’s fleet in the air after years of sanctions and challenges in procuring parts.

The relief plane that was dispatched to pick up stranded passengers is not just a jet but a time capsule, symbolizing the 34-year chill in ties between the United States and Iran.

It entered service weeks before the 1979 hostage crisis and is the only original 747-100 jumbo still flying passengers. Its resale value of $60,000 would not pay for fuel for the trip.

For years, aircraft such as these have been kept in service through parts imported on the black market, cannibalized from other planes or reproduced locally, aviation sources say.

Now, following last week’s interim deal to ease a decade-long standoff over Iran’s nuclear activities, Tehran will be allowed limited purchases of aircraft parts and repairs.

The immediate problem Iran faces is that some of its aircraft are so old that parts may not be readily available. The 747-100 was first launched in 1966 and Boeing hasn’t built a new one since 1982.

“The last 747-100 we saw was about 10 years ago,” said Mark Gregory, head of Europe’s largest aircraft recycling company, UK-based Air Salvage International.

On paper, Iran’s need for parts could be a boon for salvage firms and any second-hand stockiest who have had unwanted bits of the oldest types used by Iran accumulating dust for years.

“Everybody is lucky if somebody wants to buy because it is a dead market. These parts don’t sell like fresh bread from the baker,” said Derk-Jan van Heerden, general manager of Netherlands-based Aircraft End-of-Life Solutions (AELS).

Barring a full lifting of sanctions, the volumes involved are not enough to make much difference to the profits of global aerospace firms and parts manufacturers, analysts say.

But the renewal of old business relationships marks the tentative early steps of a process that could, depending on diplomacy, resuscitate a market frozen in time for a decade.

Iran is already indicating that sanctions relief may plant a seed for future aircraft purchases if economic ties are fully restored. Diplomats caution that depends on the uncertain outcome of months of detailed negotiations that lie ahead.

“With the new deal made in Geneva, hopefully we will be able to purchase parts directly from manufacturers and not from middlemen for a higher price,” said a senior Iranian official.

“We are looking forward to the time when sanctions are lifted and then we will purchase 250-400 planes, whether from Boeing or Airbus,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Jetmakers, salvage firms and parts suppliers have responded cautiously and stress nothing can be done without approval. But Iranian officials say people claiming to represent at least one foreign firm have made overtures as the sanctions thaw loomed.

“We will first have to learn about possible changes in the legal situation in detail before we can make any business assessment,” a spokesman for Europe’s Airbus said.

A spokesman for Boeing declined comment.

Van Heerden, who is also deputy director of the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association, said the industry has end-user agreements designed to avoid parts being used illegally.

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