The Biman Bangladesh Airlines 74-seater Dash-8 aircraft which crash landed in Yangon airport has a price tag of US$22.422 million for a brand new one. The national flag carrier is yet to determine the cost of the damage sustained by the leased aircraft.
The Biman aircraft's regular flight crash landed in bad weather in Myanmar's Yangon airport on Wednesday evening. The aircraft Dash-8 was damaged badly on impact with the runway and is not possible to make it air worthy again, said aviation experts.
In 2015, Biman leased two aircraft from EgyptAir for five years. Each aircraft costs the national flag carrier $1,680,000 a month. The Biman Bangladesh authorities did not disclosed the details of the lease agreement.
The Biman Bangladesh authorities always felt comfortable with taking on lease 10 to 20 years old aircraft rather than purchasing aircraft to add to its fleet.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines maintains its domestic flights and low distanced flight with these aircraft.
Biman has only two aircraft operating on domestic routes right now, the two medium range engine Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 leased from EgyptAir.
The national flag carrier sources said one of the two planes remain grounded with engine trouble from time to time.
"One of them needs a whole new engine the other needs the stringer replaced - a framework that runs on longitudinal lines along an aircraft.
"Biman's engineering department will replace the engine during a scheduled check," the source said without mentioning when that checking will be.
Shakil Meraj, general manager and spokesperson of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said he was informed by the engineering department that only one aircraft was grounded. "One of the aircraft will be up and running by Wednesday," he assured.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines has signed a deal with Canadian Commercial Corporation to buy three Dash 8 Q400 aircraft from Canada's Bombardier to transport passenger on short routes.
Biman has 12 planes in its fleet now - six of its own and the others rented, including two Dash 8 planes used for domestic flights.
