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Bahrain Air in talks to buy $270m worth aircraft

DUBAI — Bahrain Air has announced new expansion plans. Ibrahim Al Hamer, The Managing Director of the Company said, “Bahrain Air is negotiating with two aircraft manufacturers to purchase six brand new aircraft to be added to their existing fleet of aircraft, which will enable the company to add more services and expand its network to many more destinations in and outside the region.

AlHamer added “The cost of the six aircraft is estimated to be around $270 million, which will be financed through the establishment of a fund by the shareholders of Bahrain Air tailored to meet the operating needs of the company for modern aircraft from now until 2016.”

He said “The last bidder submitted his offer a few days ago and now we are in the process of assessing the offers received.” He added, “If everything goes according to the plan we should be making the final selection by June 2008.” Asked about the structure of the fund for financing the deal, Al Hamer confirmed that the shareholders of Bahrain Air are in the process of establishing a fund that will primarily pay for the security deposits of the aircraft, and the remaining balance, which will be due after sometime, will be borrowed from the international banking system.

He said, “For this purpose, we are currently talking to few banks who showed interest to come in as financiers or partners.”

Ibrahim Al Hamer is enthused by the market response and feels the current economic buoyancy of the region augurs well for the airline.On May 26, three weekly flights will commence to Kochi in south India, which will be increased to daily flights in October 2008. Moreover, two new destinations will be inaugurated in June and October 2008 — two weekly flights to Aleppo and daily flights to Kuwait respectively. Moreover, the company plans to launch two weekly flights to Dhaka in October 2008 as well.