On 12 September, at a Dhaka policy conclave, managing director Abdullah Al Mamun said US-Bangla would place another leased-aircraft order worth $4-5 billion within 60 days. He would not name Boeing or Airbus, or how many frames. That clock, if taken literally, runs to about mid-November. The July 'Beyond with Boeing' package is 15 737-8s and six 737-800s through five lessors about $1.5 billion and deliveries by the end of 2027. The airline already talks about Bengaluru, Colombo, Kathmandu, Beijing, Penang, Kuwait and Madinah, subject to rights and about later widebodies for Europe and North America. Local carriers still hold under 30 per cent of Bangladesh’s international traffic. Foreign airlines, Mamun said, take some $4.5 billion a year out of the same market. Those figures are the company’s.
Bangladesh’s issues are who are the lessors on a $4–5 billion follow-on, and what residual and jurisdiction will they accept? A 737-8 needs a pilot, a slot at Hazrat Shahjalal’s third terminal, a hangar that can hold a MAX and bilateral paper that is not already owned by a Gulf or Indian competitor. Training 200 pilots and 100 engineers, as the July event promised, is a pipeline. If the 60-day order is widebodies, the question hardens for ETOPS, long-haul crews, and whether Dhaka can turn a twin-aisle without becoming a parking lot.
Tracker until mid-November the manufacturer named, the lessor and law and firm versus option, first and last delivery commitments, which city pairs get frequencies and whether the airport and the DGCA can absorb 21 Boeings plus whatever comes next. Until those land, the second order is just an intention.