[chottala.com] Bangladesh to buy 8 Boeing planes for $1.3 billion

Bangladesh to buy 8 Boeing planes for $1.3 billion

Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:42am EDT

 

[People look at the newly introduced premier class cabin in a Jet Airways Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft during a function at Mumbai airport May 13, 2007. National carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines said on Monday it agreed to buy eight Boeing aircraft worth nearly $1.3 billion as it looks to modernize its small fleet and fight off competition from local rivals. ]

 

DHAKA (Reuters) - National carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines said on Monday it agreed to buy eight Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) aircraft worth nearly $1.3 billion as it looks to modernize its small fleet and fight off competition from local rivals.

Boeing had offered to supply the airline with four twin-aisle 777-300s by 2013 and four 787-8s Dreamliners by 2017, Biman Chairman Mahbub Jamil told a news conference.

"A deal will be signed with Boeing by March 15 as we need the aircraft to maintain our flight schedule," Jamil said without giving further details.

Biman was forced to halt its flights to New York, Paris, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Brussels, Yangon and Mumbai in 2006 due to a shortage of funds and aircraft.

Biman, which will fund the purchase through bank loans, plans to lease few aircraft to plug its scheduling gap before receiving the new planes from Boeing, Jamil said.

The loss-making airline is also reviewing a separate offer for planes from Europe's Airbus (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research). "Airbus will make a presentation within the next 10 days," Jamil said.

Biman became a public limited company in July, still 100 percent state-owned, as part of a rescue plan by the country's army-backed interim government.

It flies 19 international routes with a fleet of 12 aircraft, but faces competition from four smaller, local private airlines, one of which has extended its operations to include regional routes connecting Bangladesh capital Dhaka to Kuala Lampur, Singapore, Delhi and Dubai.

Bangladesh and India have recently agreed to increase flight frequencies between the two countries.

(Reporting by Masud Karim, Writing by Nizam Ahmed, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSDHA18438620080310

Earthtimes Bangladesh to buy 8 Boeing planes for $1.3 billion Reuters - 1 hour ago DHAKA (Reuters) - National carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines said on Monday it agreed to buy eight Boeing (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) aircraft worth ... Bangladesh's Biman to buy 8 Boeing planes for $1.26 bln MarketWatch Bangladesh to buy 8 Boeing planes for $1.265 bln Reuters all 23 news articles »

__._,_.___

[* Moderator's Note - CHOTTALA is a non-profit, non-religious, non-political and non-discriminatory organization.

* Disclaimer: Any posting to the CHOTTALA are the opinion of the author. Authors of the messages to the CHOTTALA are responsible for the accuracy of their information and the conformance of their material with applicable copyright and other laws. Many people will read your post, and it will be archived for a very long time. The act of posting to the CHOTTALA indicates the subscriber's agreement to accept the adjudications of the moderator]

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___