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Airbus, Boeing vie for Biman expansion plan

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
In response to a Biman Bangladesh Airlines' invitation, aircraft manufacturing giants Boeing and Airbus recently have submitted proposals to supply long-range aircraft including two wide-bodied, new genera-
tion planes to the national carrier.
With an aim to expand its global network, Biman has decided to enlarge its 15-airplane ageing fleet with four long-range aircraft including two new generation planes either from Airbus or Boeing.
SEE PAGE 11 COL 4 FROM PAGE 12
Biman has also invited offers for dry lease or dry lease with option to purchase or to buy outright two DC10-30 aircraft. The tendered bids will be opened on August 5.
The government meanwhile has formed a seven-member expert committee to vet the technical and financial aspects of the aircraft majors' proposals. The committee will hold its first meeting on July 11 Sunday.
Former civil aviation and tourism secretary and presently Acting Communications Secretary M Shafiqul Islam heads the committee, which includes Ashfaq Hamid, additional secretary at the finance ministry, and Prof Maglub Al Noor of the mechanical engineering department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology as members.
Apart from them, the committee also includes four Biman officials -Acting Managing Director Mahmoodur Rahman, Director (Engineering) S Zilani Mahbubur Rahman, Director (Flight Operations) Kamal Mahmood and Director (Finance) Anwar Hossain.
Sources said Airbus, a joint venture of the three major European powers, has offered to sell two Airbus-320 for Biman's domestic flights and two Airbus-330 for its international operations while its American rival Boeing has placed a quotation for Boeing 777, the latest of Boeing's long-range aircraft series. The four Airbuses will cost about Tk 1,400 to 1,500 crore.
Biman Acting MD Rahman told The Daily Star yesterday that the
committee will have to sit several times, as the proposals are very technical and complicated.
"The procurement move is presently in an embryonic stage. The committee will need four to five months to decide on the proposals. If it okays a proposal, it will be forwarded first to the Biman board of directors, then to cabinet purchase committee and finally to the prime minister for approval," said Rahman, who is also Biman's director (Marketing and Sales).
If the new planes are added to its fleet, Biman can widen its present global network comprising 26 destinations -- eight South Asian, six Southeast and Far-East Asian, nine Persian Gulf and Middle-East, and six European and North American airports.
Biman's fleet now consists of 15 aircraft -- six DC-10s, four Airbuses and five F-28s. Of the four Airbuses, two were purchased with Biman's own resources and the rest are on lease.
The national carrier currently does not have any Boeing aircraft. It previously had five Boeing 703, which were sold out or their lease agreement had expired in 1990s.
A source alleges there is pressure on the expert committee to back the Airbus offer, as the Tolouse-based joint venture of France, Germany and the UK offers commission to the buyer while the Seattle-based US heavyweight does not and sells directly, without any intermediate or agent.