Costly Biman aircraft turns into junk
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Mashiur Rahaman
The airframe of a DC 10-30 aircraft that Biman Bangladesh Airlines acquired in 2008 at a cost of approximately $11 million without the engines has been parked in the airport since then and gradually turning into junk.
As the operational and maintenance costs of DC 10-30 category aircraft are high due to their age, the authority has suspended its earlier plan to induct the aircraft in Biman's fleet, a senior Biman official told the FE.
"The authority is now considering selling the airframe to any bidder interested to buy it," senior official of the Biman engineering department confirmed the FE seeking anonymity.
Although the aircraft underwent a major check last year, the airframe is now worth nothing more than scrap value, he said.
Earlier Biman dry-leased the DC 10-30 (S2-ACS) aircraft from French Pegasus Aviation initially for three years to maintain its flight schedules. The lease was renwed for another term and finally expired on June 17, 2007. The monthly lease rent was fixed at $0.13 million ($130,000) according to the contract.
Problem arose when Biman, after expiry of the lease, decided to return the aircraft to the owner who refused to accept as the conditions of the re-delivery were not fulfilled , an aviation source explained.
Biman authorities then started negotiating with Pegasus for re-delivery and it took over a year before a settlement was reached. According to the lease agreement Biman had to pay 1.5 times the monthly rent during the negotiating period as the lease had expired, the source said.
In accordance to the settlement, Biman had to pay a substantial amount of compensation besides purchasing the airframe without the engines at a cost of $10.89 million
"We could say the authority has expended about $11million to acquire the aircraft body that is now of no use' the source said while mentioning that operational DC 10-30 aircrafts are currently available for $3.0 million apiece.
Explaining the situation that Biman had befallen due to oversight, independent Aviation Expert Imran Asif told the FE that it is a matter of common sense that practical re-delivery condition of an aircraft could never be made exactly same as when delivered years ago.
"Biman officials must have this realization. But I guess a vested quarter deliberately did not make any amendments to the re-delivery conditions in the lease agreement," Mr Asif commented.
The airframe of a DC 10-30 aircraft that Biman Bangladesh Airlines acquired in 2008 at a cost of approximately $11 million without the engines has been parked in the airport since then and gradually turning into junk.
As the operational and maintenance costs of DC 10-30 category aircraft are high due to their age, the authority has suspended its earlier plan to induct the aircraft in Biman's fleet, a senior Biman official told the FE.
"The authority is now considering selling the airframe to any bidder interested to buy it," senior official of the Biman engineering department confirmed the FE seeking anonymity.
Although the aircraft underwent a major check last year, the airframe is now worth nothing more than scrap value, he said.
Earlier Biman dry-leased the DC 10-30 (S2-ACS) aircraft from French Pegasus Aviation initially for three years to maintain its flight schedules. The lease was renwed for another term and finally expired on June 17, 2007. The monthly lease rent was fixed at $0.13 million ($130,000) according to the contract.
Problem arose when Biman, after expiry of the lease, decided to return the aircraft to the owner who refused to accept as the conditions of the re-delivery were not fulfilled , an aviation source explained.
Biman authorities then started negotiating with Pegasus for re-delivery and it took over a year before a settlement was reached. According to the lease agreement Biman had to pay 1.5 times the monthly rent during the negotiating period as the lease had expired, the source said.
In accordance to the settlement, Biman had to pay a substantial amount of compensation besides purchasing the airframe without the engines at a cost of $10.89 million
"We could say the authority has expended about $11million to acquire the aircraft body that is now of no use' the source said while mentioning that operational DC 10-30 aircrafts are currently available for $3.0 million apiece.
Explaining the situation that Biman had befallen due to oversight, independent Aviation Expert Imran Asif told the FE that it is a matter of common sense that practical re-delivery condition of an aircraft could never be made exactly same as when delivered years ago.
"Biman officials must have this realization. But I guess a vested quarter deliberately did not make any amendments to the re-delivery conditions in the lease agreement," Mr Asif commented.