-1st aircraft will come by Feb 1, 2025 and 2nd by April 1
- Two new aircraft will be taken as lease for 6 yrs
Aircrafts will be taken as lease by Biman to meet the passengers demand. In the meantime, two Biman has taken the initiative to lease two old aircraft.
Tenders have already been invited to lease two aircraft of Boeing 737-8 model. Two new aircraft will be taken as lease for six years. Of these, the first aircraft will be inducted into the company's fleet by February 1, 2025 and the second aircraft by April 1, 2025. As per the terms of the tenders called, the aircrafts should be a maximum of 15 years old (by 30 June 2025). Biman will prefer to take lease two aircraft of the same company. This information is known from sources related to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB).
According to the relevant sources, Boeing 737-8 model commercial aircrafts are generally used on medium-haul routes. The maximum number of seats is 186. However, in the tender called by Biman, 150 economy and 12 business class seats have been determined. The two aircraft will be used for passenger transport during the upcoming Hajj season. Therefore, it is planned to add them to the aircraft fleet by April next year.
According to sources, Biman Bangladesh Airlines currently has 21 aircraft in its fleet. These include four Boeing 777-300 ERs, four Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, six Boeing 737s and five Dash 8-400 aircraft. The 777-300 ER model aircraft were added to the fleet in October-November 2011. Two 737-8 model aircraft were added in November-December 2015. Dreamliner aircraft were added to the fleet between 2018 and 2019. On the other hand, Biman added Dash 8-400 aircraft to its fleet in 2020 and 2021. Biman currently operates flights on 23 international and seven domestic routes. In the financial year 2022-23, the state-owned company transported 3.1 lakh passengers on international and domestic routes. In that fiscal year, Biman's international market share in Bangladesh was 22 percent.
Meanwhile, Biman took the initiative to buy 10 new aircraft during the previous government's tenure to meet the growing passenger demand and create new destinations. At the time, Airbus and Boeing made separate proposals to sell the aircraft to CAAB. European Union and US diplomats also discussed the matter in several meetings with the Bangladesh government. At that time, the responsible officials of the government said that both Airbus and Boeing have given very good proposals. The aviation authority is evaluating the proposals. The proposal which is good for the interest of the country will be considered.
On the other hand, the interim government is not in favor of buying new aircraft for now. In this context, it has been decided to bring two aircraft on lease to handle the increasing passenger pressure. Two previous aircraft lease date is to expire soon. Due to this, there is a need to add new aircraft to the fleet.
In this context, General Manager (Public Relations) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Bosra Islam said that the tender has been called to handle the growing pressure of passengers; two aircrafts will be taken as lease for that cause.
ZH
