Bangladesh commits to purchase 10 Airbus during Macron’s visit

Dhaka, Sep 11 (EFE).- Bangladesh has pledged to acquire ten Airbus A350 aircraft for the fleet of a state airline, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday during his visit to the Asian country.

“We’ll be doing even more in the field of transport, and I’d like to thank you for your vote of confidence in European aeronautics and your commitment to the ten Airbus A350s,” Macros said during a joint press conference with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The 10 Airbus planes are expected to be acquired by the state-owned airline Biman Bangladesh Airlines, which currently operates a fleet of 21 aircraft, all of them Boeing and Dash models, company spokesperson Tahera Khondoker told EFE.

“Bangladesh in principle agreed to diversify the air carrier. Now we have only Boeing, we will add Airbus to it,” Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told EFE, adding that so far it has not been decided when or how many aircraft would be delivered in the coming years.

“We have given word of honor; no instrument was signed regarding this today,” the minister underlined.

Bangladesh signed a memo with the United Kingdom in May regarding the acquisition of two Airbus air cargoes, but it decided to go slow on it because of the shortage of dollars, Momen said.

Macron arrived at Dhaka on Sunday after attending the G20 summit in India, becoming the first French president to visit Bangladesh in over three decades since François Mitterrand in 1990. EFE

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