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Download PDF GMG Airlines in a landmark move yesterday unveiled its plan to buy six new generation aircraft from US plane maker Boeing at $900 million (Tk 6,200 crore) in a bid to expand routes and capture the growing market share.
“We’re going to buy six new planes — three Boeing 777-300ER with 463 seats and the rest Boeing 787-9s,” Shahab Sattar, managing director (MD) of GMG, the country’s largest private airlines, told The Daily Star last night.
“We have almost finalised the deal with Boeing and within next four to five weeks are going to sign a Memorandum of Understanding,” he added while talking to Boeing officials at his office.
Sattar went on to say: “With the new aircraft we’ll expand our international routes to Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Mascot, Doha, Bahrain, Rome and London.”
The country’s first private carrier took this landmark decision after Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd on March 10 announced its plan to buy eight new-generation aircraft from Boeing at a cost of $1.265 billion (Tk 8,728 crore).
Aviation industry marks a boom with the launch of three private airlines in last eight months and another set to start commercial flights next month, thanks to a steadily growing demand for air transport.
The industry is growing by 7.5 to 8 percent every year, while the market size of passengers is worth around Tk 3,500 crore, private operators say.
Asked about financers for buying the aircraft, the GMG MD said: “Negotiations are on with a Kuwaiti financing company and International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector arm.”
“We are also holding talks with domestic banks for the financing.”
GMG Airlines, now with a fleet of seven aircraft, operates flights to Kolkata, Delhi, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai in addition to domestic routes.
The carrier eyes an ambitious turnover of around Tk 1,350 crore in 2008 as it is set to fly to four new Middle Eastern destinations.
“We expect to hit Tk 1,350 crore turnover as we’re going to fly to Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Kuwait and Doha in addition to our existing international destinations,” Sattar said earlier in an interview with The Daily Star.
The airlines made a Tk 280 crore turnover last year.
In 2007, GMG carried 3.72 lakh passengers on international routes, achieving a 72 percent growth from previous year’s 2.16 lakh passengers.
Sattar said the company plans to start flights to Muscat in early June and to Kuwait and Doha in early August this year.
Launched in 1998, GMG had operated only domestic flights for six years and got the permission to operate on international routes in 2004.
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