Dhaka: In response to Biman Bangladesh Airlines' tender, eight foreign financial institutions have shown their interest in financing the national flag carrier to have the delivery of its four 787-8 aircraft from Boeing Commercial Airplanes by February 2020.

‘Eight tenders have been submitted and all of them by foreign financial institutions,’ a senior Biman official told UNB wishing not to be named.

He said Biman's evaluation committee is now scrutinising the papers submitted by the eight institutions and it will finalise their decision by this month as the installment payments of the four aircraft will start from the next month. ‘Yes, we're very much sincere about it and we'll hopefully be able to finish our job by this month,’ he added.

Biman authorities floated the tender towards the end of last year seeking a financier for the pre-delivery payment (PDP) as term loan for the four aircrafts, worth USD 136.280 million (US$ 136,280,280), and January 11 was the last date of the tender submission.

The four 787-8 aircraft, popularly known as Dreamliner, are scheduled to be delivered by October 2019, November 2019, 2020 and February 2020 respectively, officials at the national flag carrier said.

As per the terms of the agreement, the PDP for the four 787-8 aircraft are to be made in a number of installments starting 54 months prior to the delivery of each aircraft.

The first installment of the first 787-8 will start in April next, for the second aircraft it will start in May next year, for the third it is from July next year while August for the last aircraft.

According to the tender document, the first aircraft will cost USD 33,914,050, while the second USD 33,992,350, the third USD 34,148,950 and the last one USD 34,224,930.

The Ministry of Finance has agreed, in principle, to provide Sovereign Guarantee for the purpose of PDP Financing of the four 787-8 aircraft. The final commitment is contingent upon accomplishment of required formalities by the government of Bangladesh, the tender document says.

For financing interest, it also noted that three months floating rate payable in every three months from the date of drawdown or on any interest payment date thereafter.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range, mid-sized wide-bodied, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.  Its seats vary from 242 to 335 in typical 3-class seating configurations.

It is Boeing's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use composite materials as the primary material in the construction of its airframe. The 787 has been designed to be 20% more fuel-efficient than the 767 it is to replace.

The 787 Dreamliner's distinguishing features include mostly electrical flight systems, a four-panel windshield, noise-reducing chevrons on its engine nacelles, and a smoother nose contour.

Aiming to modernise the Biman fleet with new generation aircraft, Biman signed two agreements with Boeing in April and May 2008, during the caretaker regime, for purchasing new generation four 777-300ER aircraft, four 787-8 aircraft and two 737-800 aircraft.

Three 777-300ER aircraft joined Biman fleet in October-November 2011 and February 2014. The 4th 777-300ER was delivered on 21 March 2014.

Besides, two 737-800s and four new 787-8s are scheduled to be delivered by Boeing in November-December 2015 and 2019-2020.

Currently, Biman is operating 02 domestic and 18 international destinations.

Biman has taken two 777-200ER aircraft on dry lease from Egypt Air Holding Company.

It also signed an agreement with Egyptian Smart Aviation to get a pair of Dash 8-Q400s to resume domestic flights from next month.