'No need for separate plane'

The aviation minister's plan to buy aircraft for president and prime minister has hit the wall.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has turned it down saying it would be a luxury.

"It is not yet time to have the luxury of a separate aircraft," she told a media briefing on Saturday.

The press conference, at her official residence Ganabhaban, was meant to the brief the media on her recent Hungary visit.

"We will travel on the same aircrafts, which is used by the people," said the prime minister.

She said that the efforts to improve the national flag carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines is aimed at passengers and not 'any specific person'.

On Sunday, the prime minister and her entourage had to spend four hours in Turkmenistan on their way to Hungary after the Biman Bangladesh aircraft carrying them made an emergency landing at the Ashgabat International Airport.

The civil aviation ministry, Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB), and Biman had formed three separate committees to investigate the incident.
On Wednesday, Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon briefed the media over their probe's initial findings and said negligence of Biman officials has caused it.

He said the faults occurred after 'nuts in the fuel line of the Boeing 777 aircraft had come loose'.

The prime minister and her entourage returned on Wednesday in a separate Biman aircraft.

Following the incident, Menon told Parliament that they were considering buying separate aircraft for the president and prime minister, which Hasina turned down on Saturday.

Source: bdnews24