Biman seeks $53.45m hard loan to buy two Boeings

The cash-starved Bangladesh Biman is set to borrow US$53.45 million more hard loan for procuring two Boeing aircraft as it sought its approval from the government, officials said Saturday.
The ministry of finance (MoF) officials said the non-concessional loan committee, headed by the Finance Minister, will sit today (Sunday) to consider the loan approval request of the Biman.
The Biman officials said they will borrow the hard-term loam from London branch of the Sonali Bank to make payment to the US plane-maker Boeing in a bid to place order for the two aircraft.
Two 737-800 aircraft are to be procured by the Biman in the third phase of its initiatives.
Earlier, the Biman placed supply order for four aircraft in two phases. In the first phase-two 777-300ER Boeing aircraft arrived in Dhaka in October-November 2011 and in the second phase, another one reached the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in February this year.
The remaining 777-300ER aircraft of the second phase will reach Dhaka this month, Biman officials said.
Earlier in 2008, the Bangladesh Biman signed a deal with the Boeing for supplying eight Boeing planes-four 777-300ER and another four 787-8 at a cost of Tk 87.28 billion (US$1.02 billion).
Later, the Biman gave order for another two Boeing-737-800 aircraft.
"We will pay the Boeing $53.45 million as the order money for supply of two 737-800 passenger carriers-5th and 6th of its kind-if the non-concessional loan committee approves our bid for the fund," said a Biman official.
"The two aircraft will reach Bangladesh in the November-December period of 2015. When the Boeings are handed over to us in 2015, we have to pay the entire cost of the two aircraft," he told the FE.
The London branch of the Sonali Bank will provide the loan at LIBOR plus 3.9 per cent interest rate with a maturity period of two years.
The non-concessional loan committee in its last meeting on January 21 approved $356 million loans for procuring two 777-300ER aircraft from the Boeing-3rd and 4th of its kind.
The Biman is struggling to make the losing concern profitable replacing its older version of aircraft with the new series of Boeings.
According to Biman's financial statement, it incurred highest amount of Tk 5.45 billion loss in 2011-12 fiscal year.
The Biman, after more than 35 years of its history, is purchasing new series aircraft directly from the Boeing.