March 16, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1429

DHAKA, March 15: Biman Bangladesh Airlines signed a deal on Saturday to buy eight aircraft from Boeing Company worth $1.265 billion, a company official said.

“Senior officials of Biman and Boeing authorities have signed the deal at Biman’s headquarters in Dhaka,” Mahbub Jamil, Chairman of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited, told reporters.

Boeing had offered to supply eight planes four Boeing 777-300 and four Boeing 787-8 by 2013 and 2017 respectively -- to the Bangladesh national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited.

Biman will fund the purchase from its own resources and through bank loans, another official said.

The national airline was forced to halt its flights to New York, Paris, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Brussels, Yangon and Mumbai in 2006 due to a shortage of funds and aircraft.

Biman, plans to lease a few aircraft to plug its scheduling gap before receiving the new planes from Boeing, Jamil said.

“Process for leasing the aircraft has already been started and couple of wide-body aircraft will soon join the fleet,” a senior official of the airlines said.

The loss-making airline is also reviewing a separate offer for planes from Europe’s Airbus. Airbus will make a presentation within the next few days, he said.—Reuters