After signing agreements with Boeing to purchase 25 aircrafts, Biman is now set to procure 10 crafts from Airbus in a bid to diversify its fleet.
An agreement in this regard is due to be signed between the state-owned airline and Airbus today at a city hotel.
Biman hasn’t disclosed the final cost of the crafts as yet.
A reliable source informs that although the agreement amount is $2.05 billion, efforts are underway by the state airline to bring down the cost to $1.80 billion.
The process to add ten aircrafts will begin from 2033, and in the following four years, all ten planes will become part of the fleet, said Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister, Rashiduzzaman Millat.
As per agreement, four are Airbus A350-900 widebody planes and six A321 neo narrow body jets will be added.
Aviation industry insiders maintain that in the purchase of either Boeing or Airbus, global political dynamics are given precedence over general trade.
During the Awami League tenure, the plan to buy Airbus was finalised, sidelining Boeing, prompting the then US Ambassador to Dhaka, Peter Haas to become active to push forward Boeing’s bid.
Later, in a changed political atmosphere, the decision to buy from Boeing was finalised.
The immediate past interim government’s tilt towards Boeing energised the European Union with envoys of France, Germany, UK and the EU urging the government to include Airbus at an event held on 4 Nov last.
Speaking at an event organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association, Bangladesh, French Ambassador to Bangladesh, Jean-Marc Sere-Charlet, mentioned that leading airlines of the world possess crafts from both Boeing and Airbus, selecting which company to go for following a comparison of pros and cons.
For logical and technical reasons, Airbus was chosen before, not to serve any political motive, said the envoy.
A survey by Boeing states that if Biman purchases Airbus then it would have to incur an additional cost of $ 150 million in 20 years.
On the other hand, by carrying passengers using Dreamliner 787, Biman would make a profit of $ 5 million since Dreamliner’s fuel and maintenance costs are 6 per cent and 30 per cent lower respectively, added the survey, underlining that in the global market, Boeing offers planes at lower rates than other companies.
Industry insiders, however, have raised question about the neutrality of the survey carried out by an airline company.
During the previous AL government, the first technical evaluation committee informed after carrying out a six-month survey that in buying new Airbus planes would incur an additional cost of $ 80 million.
Meanwhile, questions are being raised within Biman as to why Airbus is being selected after operating Boeing crafts for more than 15 years.
On condition of anonymity, several officials of the state-owned airline told Times of Bangladesh that it’s challenging for an airline with less that 50 aircrafts to become profitable with a mixed fleet.
Pointing to the steep price of spare parts of Airbus, one official said, “Just buying the planes is not enough; skilled management is essential to operate a bigger fleet.”
Biman lacks the management required for such a wider operation, cautioned the official.
Instead of opposing a mixed fleet, the official observed, “Since Biman is accustomed to operating a Boeing based fleet, it would have made sense to remain with them.”
Staying with a known craft would not require any new training or skill sets, maintains the official.
Boeing’s pilot, simulator trainings are less complex, engineers can fix aircrafts with existing training, crew and fleet management is easier, spare parts are available in the same eco-system, but if Airbus is included, two separate eco-systems will be needed, making crew and fleet management complex.
Some officials also feel that abruptly introducing Airbus to a route which has been using Boeing will trigger difficulties.
Faruk Ahmed, who retired after working for Biman’s marketing division for 30 years, recalls, “a mixed fleet is not a new phenomenon for Biman. In 1993, during the first tenure of BNP, when late Khaleda Zia was PM, Biman purchased two brand new Airbus A310 aircrafts. At that time the fleet also featured Boeing DC-10 planes.”
Criticising the mixed fleet of the 90s, a present-day official of the state-owned airline contended: “due to the mixed fleet, Biman was a loss-making entity for several years in a row.”
With the addition of Boeing to the fleet, Biman has become profitable and managed to pay for the 14 Boeing planes purchased at a cost of Tk20 thousand crore, asserted the official, highlighting the fact that there wasn’t a single instance of failure in paying the instalment of the cost.
If Biman had been a loss-making body then it would not have been possible to pay for the planes, said the official.
Not willing to definitively endorse the notion that a mixed fleet would be more expensive, aviation expert, Kazi Wahidul Alam observed that Biman had a mixed fleet in the past which also had its own benefits.
On condition of anonymity, another official opined that since Boeing’s cockpit, training systems have the same eco-systems, adding new planes would not require separate training, simulator, maintenance and operational procedure.
During the AL government, Biman’s first technical committee gave its opinion in favour of Airbus.
Later, another committee also submitted a report stating inclusion of Airbus would be profitable, basing their findings on 92 per cent cabin factor for each flight.
In reality, Biman’s cabin factor is below 76 per cent.
Aviation expert, ATM Nazrul Islam maintains, “instead of focusing on the marque of the plane, priority should be attached to the correct management of the fleet.”
Stating that Biman failed to implement fleet plan of the past on which Boeing planes were procured, he observed: “we incurred loss by using long haul planes Dreamliner, Boeing 777-300 ER for short haul trips.”
