Bangladesh has committed to buy 10 Airbus A350s for Biman but the national carrier has not yet evaluated or figured out the route plans, expected fuel consumption, maintenance costs, how much revenue could be earned on those routes and whether it would be enough to cover the instalments for the new planes.
Ruling out some aviation experts' observation that having a mixed fleet would not be favourable for Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Airbus has claimed that currently the Bangladesh flag carrier is not benefiting from fleet commonality.
However, when the government showed its intention to buy planes from the Airbus, some aviation experts observed that a complex fleet will add additional investment and maintenance cost to Boeing dominated fleet of Biman to manage spare parts and to train new set of pilots.
The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the archrival of US-based Boeing, is conducting negotiations to finalize a deal with the Bangladesh government to sell 10 wide-bodied A350 aircraft including two freight planes to long-time Boeing customer Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
On May 5, the British and Bangladesh governments signed a non-binding 'joint communiqué' to proceed towards signing a memorandum of understanding in this regard.
Five days later, the Boeing delegation in a city hotel argued that the inclusion of Airbus aircraft in Biman's fleet would require additional investment due to different types of spare parts, tooling, engine spares, spare engines and pilot training requirements.
Experts said it would require two additional sets of pilots, crew, and engineers, among others, when an airline with a small fleet depended on multiple manufacturers.
Buying five 787s aircraft and five Airbus 350 Airbuses is a complex solution, and complex fleets cost more, an official of Biman told the Daily Observer preferring anonymity.
Biman now has 21 aircraft - four Boeing 777-300ERs, four Boeing 787-8s, two Boeing 787-9s, six Boeing 737-800s, and five De Havilland Canada DHC-8 Q400s. Of the 21, Biman owns 18 aircraft, and five are operating on lease.
On May 5, Salman Fazlur Rahman, the Prime Minister's private Industry and Investment Adviser, said Bangladesh's relations with the UK, France, Germany, and the European Union would get a further boost with the initiative (of adding Airbus to the Biman fleet) and that the aviation industry of Bangladesh would be developed, according to a press statement.
The Biman Bangladesh Airlines board on May 3, 2023, decided that such a purchase could only happen after a technical and financial evaluation. Dhaka commits to buy 10 planes from Airbus.
Biman had created two committees to conduct the techno-financial evaluations. This correspondent spoke to Biman insiders with knowledge of the committees and they on the condition of anonymity said the committees had a few meetings but were nowhere near the state to be able to produce any report.
The techno-financial evaluation that Biman is currently doing consists of figuring out the route plans, expected fuel consumption on those routes, maintenance costs, how much revenue could be earned from those routes, and whether the revenue would be enough to cover the instalments for the new planes.
Biman engineers on condition of anonymity said currently only four, out of their engineering staff of 60, completed the type-rating training for A350s. However, the four only have partial certification, meaning the A350s would need a whole new set of maintenance engineers.
Biman's pilots will also need to be trained and certified to fly the Airbus planes. Even cabin crew members would have to be trained for the new planes and all these add to the operational cost.
