Biman\\\'s bid to have turboprops for domestic flights looks bright

In response to Biman Bangladesh Airlines' invitation, nine international companies have submitted their Request for Proposals (RFPs) to the national flag carrier for supplying two 45-80 seated single-class turboprop aircraft for five years.
Biman received nine proposals following its invitation of proposal or offer for procurement of two turboprop aircraft on 5 years' 'dry Lease' or 'lease-purchase' basis from airlines, operators, aircraft owners, manufacturers, leasing companies having aircraft of their own or legally authorised agents of the owners of aircraft, a Biman official told UNB.
The last date for the submission of paper in this regard expired on July 14, the official said wishing anonymity.
This is Biman's seventh attempt to collect turboprop aircraft for resuming flights on its domestic routes along with some other regional ones. Currently, it has no small aircraft to carry passengers on domestic routes.
An evaluation committee will now thoroughly assess all the proposals and then place it before the Biman board for its approval.
"Once the board approves it, then a Biman team will go to inspect the aircraft. An agreement will be inked, if the team submits a positive inspection report, then the aircraft will be added to the Biman fleet," the Biman official said.
According to the tender floated by Biman on its website, the airliner fixed the third week of October as the tentative time for the aircraft induction.
Asked why it takes so many drives to add turboprops to the Biman fleet, he said, "We have to start operating flights on domestic routes as the government has instructed us to do so soon. In the last six times, we got only two responsive offers.
"When we asked the bidders completing the lengthy procedure that we want to inspect the aircraft, they either said that those had already been sold off or leased out. We had nothing to do then," the Biman official added.
He also mentioned that Biman as the state-run organisation has to follow all the procedures set by the government for procurement.
In this connection, he said that private airlines can do that quickly as they do not need to follow all those lengthy procedures. "If we do that we will be charged with corruption."
The Biman official also said that as the Biman has failed to procure the aircraft in the last several attempts they relaxed some terms and conditions.
According to the tender, the aircraft must not be more than 10 years of age on 14 July 2014 for both 'dry lease' or 'lease-purchase'.
Currently, Biman has four 777-300ERs, two 737-800s, one 777-200ER and two A310-300s in its fleet. Meanwhile, Biman has decided to resume its domestic flights on different routes at the year-end.
Keeping that aim in mind, Biman had decided to procure or lease some small aircraft such as turboprop aircraft as these are suitable for operating in domestic routes.
Biman wants to regain its share in the domestic market alongside the international one.
According to sources, the government has already taken steps to renovate the country's five airports-Dhaka-Rajshahi, Dhaka-Saidpur, Dhaka-Cox's Bazar, Dhaka-Jessore and Dhaka-Barisal.
The national flag carrier suspended all of its domestic flights from 2002 to 2012 due to huge losses and lack of aircraft. Later, it resumed domestic flights on limited number of routes, including Dhaka-Chittagong-Dhaka and Dhaka-Sylhet-Dhaka.
Biman is now operating about 30 flights a week on its domestic routes with wide-bodied aircraft through its connecting flights in operation on international routes.