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Biman decides to purchase 2 cargo planes from Airbus

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Biman decides to purchase 2 cargo planes from Airbus

BANGLADESH

Jebun Nesa Alo
03 May, 2023, 11:05 pm
Last modified: 04 May, 2023, 03:48 pm

State Minister Mahbub Ali said Airbus proposed to sell two freighters and the Biman board has accepted the proposal​

FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A350-900 aircraft performs a flight pass during the Singapore Airshow in Singapore February 11, 2014. REUTERS/Tim Chong
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FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A350-900 aircraft performs a flight pass during the Singapore Airshow in Singapore February 11, 2014. REUTERS/Tim Chong

FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A350-900 aircraft performs a flight pass during the Singapore Airshow in Singapore February 11, 2014. REUTERS/Tim Chong

The board of Biman Bangladesh has decided to purchase two freighter A350 as proposed by the Airbus.

The decision came at the board meeting held on Tuesday, confirmed Mahbub Ali, state minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry.

He said Airbus proposed to sell two freighters and the Biman board has accepted the proposal.

He said the price will be negotiated.


PM underlines a roadmap to turn Bangladesh into an aviation hub

Airbus proposed its most modern widebody freighter A350 at an asking price of nearly $200 million each according to Biman source.

The Biman Bangladesh Airlines fleet currently consists of 21 aircraft -- 10 widebodied Boeing, six narrow-body Boeing 737s and five Dash 8 jets.

At present, Biman has no dedicated cargo plane when global air cargo demand is rising fast even crossing pre-pandemic level.


Moreover, Biman's entire fleet is dominated by the Boeing company as Airbus has had no presence in the Bangladesh aviation industry in last two decades when India, Malaysia, Thailand are Airbus dominated countries, according to industry insiders.

Currently 14 foreign airlines are operating cargo service targeting only the Bangladesh market. Of the 14 airlines four are using narrow body aircraft and 10 are using wide body aircraft, according to industry insiders.

A senior pilot who has long experience for cargo operation told the Business Standard that 90% of the cargo goods are garments and there is a huge business opportunity in cargo operation which is completely under foreign airlines. If Biman wants to enter this market it needs to start with dedicated wide body aircraft to compete with foreign airlines.

Sharing experience, he said that Biman's marketing is very week even in passenger flight operations. As a result, the cargo belly of passenger flights could not be used fully when 14 airlines are operating cargo flight dedicatedly, he added.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) in released data for February 2023 shows that global air cargo demand rose above pre-pandemic levels.

In February, demand for air cargo was 2.9% higher than pre-pandemic levels in February 2019—the first time it has surpassed pre-pandemic levels in eight months.

Capacity (measured in available cargo tonne-kilometres, ACTK) was up 8.6% compared to February 2022. The strong uptick in ACTKs reflects the addition of belly capacity as the passenger side of the business continues to recover. International belly-capacity grew by 57.0% in February year-over-year, reaching 75.1% of the 2019 pre-pandemic capacity, according to IATA.

How Bangladesh becomes Airbus's target market

In February last year, prime minister expressed her desire that Biman would internationally conduct its cargo services with its own planes.

While addressing the golden jubilee anniversary programme of the national carrier, she said Biman will be more profitable if its cargo service continues.

Later in March that year Airbus introduced A350 freighters at Hazrat Shahjalal International airport to showcase its business objective. A high level team including the Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, Biman Bangladesh Airlines then Managing Director Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal visited the aircraft.

In March this year, French aerospace firm Airbus came up with several proposals, including sales of jets and an aviation partnership with the UK and France, to the Bangladesh government at the aviation summit held in Bangladesh for the first time.

Bangladesh Aviation Summit, organised jointly by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, the British High Commission and Embassy of France in Dhaka on 22 March.

After the aviation summit, Airbus in a meeting with Biman specified their intention of selling cargo planes.

How Biman phased out Airbus

Biman for the first time purchased two brand new twin engine wide body Airbus A310 in 1986 for its fleet to operate flights across Middle-east, South-East Asia and regional flight.

Later, it bought two more A310s from Singapore Airlines and Air Jamaica.

From the year 2013, Biman started to ground Airbus plane gradually due to technical glitch and high fuel consumption.

Biman began to add new aircraft to its fleet in 2011 when it purchased two Boeing 777-300 and gradually added more Boeing.

The Biman Bangladesh Airlines fleet currently consists of 21 aircraft -- 10 suppressor Boeing, six narrow-body Boeing 737s and five Dash 8 jets.

How A350F competing against Boeing

Airbus claims the A350F is the most environmentally friendly freighter on the market. More than 70% of the A350F's airframe is made of new materials, resulting in a 30-ton lower takeoff weight. Airbus says the A350F consumes about 40% less jet fuel than its rival's Boeing 747-400F and about 20% less compared to the Boeing 777F.

In February 2021 Singapore airlines ordered for seven A350 freighter as part of its decision to move away from Boeing. The carrier currently operates seven 747-400 freighters with an average age of 18 years, which will be replaced by the A350F which deliveries are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to media reports.

In February 2023, Tata Group-owned Air India announced to buy a total of 470 wide-body and narrow-body planes from Airbus and Boeing, and the total deal value is estimated to be $80 billion as the airline expands its operations.

Of the total deal, the carrier will buy 40 wide-body A350 aircraft and another 210 narrow-body A320neo planes, according to media reports.
 
I personally have no concern if the purchases are from Boeing or from Airbus. The issue is, if BIMAN is paying the money itself from its own income or the GoB is paying the money on its behalf.
 
Biman cargo operation should exist as a new business. Govt should buy the planes and get it started and immediately privatise it. The company should be run on full commercial basis and from profit it should pay back the govt in time.

There would be no hope if this operates in the same way that Biman is currently running where they have failed to sort out simple online ticket purchase capacity.
 
Biman cargo operation should exist as a new business. Govt should buy the planes and get it started and immediately privatise it. The company should be run on full commercial basis and from profit it should pay back the govt in time.

There would be no hope if this operates in the same way that Biman is currently running where they have failed to sort out simple online ticket purchase capacity.

Biman is a dead horse.
Corruption is the culprit.

The Biman aicrafts still have liverys from 1970’s!!!
 
Goru gadha nia desh chalailey ei-e hoi. Airbus gave them a proposal (I am sure with significant kickback) and they readily accepted.

Shara dunia converted Boeing 767 use kortesey - ar tenader pasar toley nai tena, tenara nuton airbus cargoliner kinbey.

Sagoler gushty sagol.

Amazon and Fedex all use converted B767's, mostly 200 series, but some 300 series as well. We can google this, but CAAB sagols cannot.

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The cargo-only 767 has found a niche as package carrier, which has made it into the workhorse of Amazon Prime Air, the "Amazon airline" that carries goods for the world's biggest e-commerce company. Now known as Amazon Air only to differentiate from Amazon's future drone-delivery service — although it still sports the Prime logo on its planes — it flies a large fleet of 35 converted 767s that all used to be passenger planes, some with American.

The one below, photographed in Seattle in 2018, criss-crossed the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean with AA from 1992 to 2016 before having its windows removed and being turned into a package hauler.

20180426_JFKSEA_N353AZ_5453.jpg

Photo by Alberto Riva/The Points Guy

The fall in demand from the pandemic may push other airlines to retire 767s early, too. Delta and United have grounded many of theirs, and it's still unknown if they will all return to the skies. So, while you may not be able fly on 767s as a passenger for much longer, you will still see them at airports for a long time, now hauling cargo. And there's a good chance that when a package from Amazon shows up at your door, it will have gotten there courtesy of a trusty 767 — maybe one you've flown on before, as a passenger on American Airlines.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See this as well,

 
Goru gadha nia desh chalailey ei-e hoi. Airbus gave them a proposal (I am sure with significant kickback) and they readily accepted.

Shara dunia converted Boeing 767 use kortesey - ar tenader pasar toley nai tena, tenara nuton airbus cargoliner kinbey.

Sagoler gushty sagol.

Amazon and Fedex all use converted B767's, mostly 200 series, but some 300 series as well. We can google this, but CAAB sagols cannot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The cargo-only 767 has found a niche as package carrier, which has made it into the workhorse of Amazon Prime Air, the "Amazon airline" that carries goods for the world's biggest e-commerce company. Now known as Amazon Air only to differentiate from Amazon's future drone-delivery service — although it still sports the Prime logo on its planes — it flies a large fleet of 35 converted 767s that all used to be passenger planes, some with American.

The one below, photographed in Seattle in 2018, criss-crossed the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean with AA from 1992 to 2016 before having its windows removed and being turned into a package hauler.

20180426_JFKSEA_N353AZ_5453.jpg

Photo by Alberto Riva/The Points Guy

The fall in demand from the pandemic may push other airlines to retire 767s early, too. Delta and United have grounded many of theirs, and it's still unknown if they will all return to the skies. So, while you may not be able fly on 767s as a passenger for much longer, you will still see them at airports for a long time, now hauling cargo. And there's a good chance that when a package from Amazon shows up at your door, it will have gotten there courtesy of a trusty 767 — maybe one you've flown on before, as a passenger on American Airlines.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See this as well,



If you view it in another way there are operational freedom to operating and using both the companies. Being too reliant on one of these monopolistic companies carry added risk but offcourse this benefit comes at added cost.

I am not too concerned i must say.
 
I personally have no concern if the purchases are from Boeing or from Airbus. The issue is, if BIMAN is paying the money itself from its own income or the GoB is paying the money on its behalf.

I am 90% sure GoB will be paying. Biman route planning (and as a result it's profitability) sucks. They haven't been in the black for a long, long time. If they needed cargo aircraft, they can easily lease them from companies like ATSG (800 pound Gorilla of the Cargo airfreight industry).

If you view it in another way there are operational freedom to operating and using both the companies. Being too reliant on one of these monopolistic companies carry added risk but offcourse this benefit comes at added cost.

I am not too concerned i must say.

The best way to have an airline start cargo operations (which Biman has never done) is to lease airplanes.

The only reason BUYING airplanes comes into play (in this instance) - is kickbacks. plain and simple.

Leases hardly ever involve kickbacks, the margins are too small.

These scumbags don't want to make money for the airline carrying cargo, they want to simply line their own pockets.
 
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Why is BIman buying new aircraft when there is plenty of used aircraft available at lower prices? Biman can buy used 777-200LRs, convert them to freighters, and easily integrate the aircraft into its flight operations. It already flies the 777-300ERs, so finding pilots should not be a problem.
 
Why is BIman buying new aircraft when there is plenty of used aircraft available at lower prices? Biman can buy used 777-200LRs, convert them to freighters, and easily integrate the aircraft into its flight operations. It already flies the 777-300ERs, so finding pilots should not be a problem.

If administrators followed logic this is what would have been done.

However buying Airbus from the factory means they get kickbacks. And hefty ones at that.

Converted Boeing 767/777 freighters (or even Boeing freighters delivered as is from the factory) are much more in use worldwide than any Airbus freighters. Boeing aircraft are naturally more reliable (proven by higher dispatch rates) and generally more sturdy.

I mean having a used freighter is no issue. The freight will not complain that the interior of the airplane is old.
 
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However buying Airbus from the factory means they get kickbacks. And hefty ones at that.
"দুনিয়ার সব দেশ পায় সোনার খনি
আর আমি শালার পাইছি যত চোরের খনি"।

দ্যাশের আব্বাজান ৫০ বছর আগেই এইটা কইয়া গ্যাছেন।
 
Bangladesh signs deal with UK to buy Airbus aircraft

AVIATION

TBS Report
06 May, 2023, 12:25 am
Last modified: 06 May, 2023, 12:37 am


Bangladesh signs deal with UK to buy Airbus aircraft


Bangladesh has signed an Aviation Trade and Investment Partnership with the UK to purchase passenger and cargo aircraft from Airbus alongside the expansion of other necessary cooperation.

Salman F Rahman, Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister, and UK State Minister for Business and Trade Dominic Johnson signed the deal on Friday.

"This deal demonstrates the UK's commitment to strengthening Bangladesh's aviation industry, in turn helping to create jobs in both countries," the UK minister wrote in his twitter handle today.

At that time, Principal Secretary of the Prime Minister Tofazzel Hossain Miah and UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Bangladesh Rushanara Ali were present.


Airbus races to enter Bangladesh to break Boeing’s dominance

Earlier, on Wednesday, the board of Biman Bangladesh Airlines made a policy decision to purchase two wide-bodied A350 freighters in response to the proposal from Airbus, the leading European manufacturer in the aerospace industry.


(From L-R) Lord Dominic Johnson of Lainston CBE, Rushanara Ali MP, Salman F Rahman, and Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah.
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Photo taken from Twitter
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(From L-R) Lord Dominic Johnson of Lainston CBE, Rushanara Ali MP, Salman F Rahman, and Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah.


Business

Bangladesh signs deal with UK for aviation partnership, ‘credit to buy aircraft from Airbus’​


ByNews Desk

Published:6th May, 2023 at 2:39 AM

Bangladesh has signed a joint communique with the United Kingdom on partnership in the aviation sector, a deal under which the South Asian country will be able to “get loan to buy aircraft from Airbus”.

“This deal demonstrates the UK's commitment to strengthening Bangladesh’s aviation industry, in turn helping to create jobs in both countries,” Lord Dominic Johnson of Lainston CBE, the minister of state in the Department for Business and Trade, tweeted after the signing in London on Friday.

Salman F Rahman, adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on private industry and investment, signed the communique on behalf of the Bangladesh government.

The Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Trade Envoy to Bangladesh Rushanara Ali MP were present during the signing ceremony.

The prime minister is currently visiting London to attend King Charles’ coronation. She also met Sunak in their first bilateral talks, and attended a reception hosted by King Charles and a meeting of Commonwealth leaders.

Lord Dominic Johnson of Lainston CBE and Salman F Rahman.
Photo taken from Twitter


Through the deal, Bangladesh's trade and investment relations with the United Kingdom and the other European partners of Airbus are supposed to be strengthened along with the development of Bangladesh's aviation industry, according to a media statement.

Bangladesh can also get long-term credit facilities from the UK Export Finance scheme on easy terms for the purchase of aircraft from Airbus under the deal.

After signing the deal, Salman said as a result of this initiative, a long term and effective relationship can be established between Airbus and Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the flag carrier.

He believes the current relationship between Bangladesh, the UK, France, Germany and the European Union can be strengthened further through the initiative.

 
Buying brand new aircraft for cargo is a luxury that only airlines like Emirates and Etihad can afford.
It is economically sound to buy a new cargo plane if it has enough cargo business to cover the operation and loan repayment costs.

Not that I support the present purchase.
 
It is economically sound to buy a new cargo plane if it has enough cargo business to cover the operation and loan repayment costs.

Not that I support the present purchase.
Yes, the maintenance will be low. Plus there will be warranty coverage on a new aircraft which can save a lot of money. Just that the precedence is low, if not absent. Many established airlines go the conversion route to save on capital costs.
 
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