Bangladesh to acquire 14 Boeing jets in $3.7 billion deal amid US trade pact

Dhaka: Bangladesh will sign a $3.7 billion deal with Boeing on Thursday to acquire 14 planes over the next decade for its national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the state news agency reported.

Dhaka's state-run BSS news agency said it will mark the "biggest modern fleet expansion" for the national airline, under an agreement hammered out last year as part of a tariff deal with the United States.

"Under the proposed agreement, Biman will procure 14 new aircraft, including eight Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners, two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and four Boeing 737-8 MAX jets," BSS reported.


A formal signing ceremony will take place on Thursday evening in the capital Dhaka.

Bangladesh has a reported 19 aircraft in its current fleet, an estimated 14 of them from Boeing.

The purchase was agreed in August 2025 by the caretaker government which ran the South Asian nation of 170 million people after a 2024 revolution, until a new government was elected in February.

Bangladesh, the world's second-biggest garment manufacturer, struck a trade deal with the United States to scale back President Donald Trump's punishing tariffs.

The United States represents 20 percent of Bangladesh's ready-made garments exports.

Dhaka proposed buying Boeing planes and boosting imports of US wheat, cotton and oil to help narrow its trade deficit, which Trump used as justification for imposing painful levies.

But an initial proposed 25 aircraft was slashed to 14.

The deal sparked frustration in Europe, which had been in discussion to sell Airbus aeroplanes to Bangladesh.

Trump threatened Bangladesh with 37 percent tariffs, more than double the then 16 percent on cotton products. That was scaled back to 20 percent after the deal.

Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in Bangladesh and the industry has been rebuilding after the deadly 2024 unrest that toppled the government.