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US aeronautics giant Boeing seems to be shaken by the news of Biman’s procuring 10 airliners from European giant Airbus as Boeing’s top marketing team is now in Dhaka in a rare visit to pursue Bangladesh’s aviation sector to buy its aircraft.
The marketing team led by Boeing’s Commercial Marketing Managing Director for Asia Pacific and India Dave Shulte on Wednesday met representatives of the country’s airlines, aviation experts and journalists at The Westin Dhaka hotel and tried to establish why Boeing is better than other companies highlighting various aspects of the aviation sector in Bangladesh and South Asia.
The board of directors of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Bangladesh’s national flag carrier, on May 3 approved a proposal to buy 10 aircraft from Airbus and the Boeing team tried to insist that buying 10 aircraft from Airbus would be much more expensive compared to Boeing.
Dave Shulte said Boeing has predicted that air travel in Bangladesh will double in the next decade – driven by the country’s growing population, expanding economy and the middle class.
“We are in a continuous discussion and engagement with airline companies in Bangladesh, including Biman. We already have a strong presence here in the past 50 years,” he said.
Without mentioning Airbus, Shulte said if Biman buys aircraft from companies other than Boeing, the costs will increase to a large extent. None of the Boeing officials uttered the name Airbus at the programme but their PowerPoint presentation featured examples of Airbus.
He said currently, Biman has a technical and pilot team as Boeing has a majority in its fleet but if it buys planes from a new company, it will need two sets of technical teams, two sets of pilots, two sets of training teams, two sets of simulators increasing the cost by several times.
Shulte said the cost will be much higher if the fleet consists of five Boeing 787 and five Airbus A350 aircraft instead of the fleet of 10 Boeing 787 planes. In this case, Biman will incur an additional expenditure of Tk 6.4 billion. It is possible to buy more than 2100 brand new cars with the amount.
Responding to a question about which one is better between Boeing and Airbus, Shulte said, “Boeing airliners are definitely the best in the world.”
Asked whether Boeing thinks it is losing the market in Bangladesh as it is holding a press conference in Dhaka after Biman’s announcement to buy Airbus planes Airlines, Kevin Yeo, Boeing’s Regional Director Communications of North East Asia Commercial Airplane said, Bangladesh’s aviation sector is a sector with great potential.
“We have been working closely with Biman and US-Bangla Airlines for a long time. Also, we have been working with the Bangladesh government for a long time in the category up-gradation of the airport of Bangladesh. Boeing came to the press conference today to further enrich this relationship,” he added.
The Boeing officials in a presentation said by 2032, Bangladesh is expected to achieve an annual economic growth rate of more than 5 per cent – double the global average – supporting annual air-traffic growth at nearly 8.5 per cent annually.
“As travel restrictions were relaxed over the past year, capacity growth in Bangladesh has increased by 11 per cent year-over-year,” Schulte said, adding, “Led by regional traffic to the Middle East and India, Bangladesh’s air travel is forecast to double over the next 10 years.”
To meet strong demand in passenger travel and air cargo, Boeing anticipates South Asia’s carriers will need more than 2,300 new commercial aeroplanes over the next 20 years, more than tripling South Asia’s current in-service fleet of 700 aeroplanes.
“We see tremendous opportunity in South Asia, with more than 80 per cent of new deliveries supporting air-travel growth and 20 per cent replacing older, less fuel-efficient aeroplanes,” said Schulte.
Single-aisle aeroplanes like the Boeing 737 family will make up nearly 90 per cent of South Asia’s future fleet, while 10 per cent of the regional fleet will be widebody aeroplanes like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Both aeroplane models are currently in operation with Biman and US Bangla.
