Bangladesh airlines to recruit foreign pilots

The national airline of Bangladesh, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, is to recruit eighteen foreign pilots to operate its flights.

The managing director of Biman Mohammad Rafiqul Islam told the BBC they had no alternative as the country lacked adequately trained pilots.

He said the airline was planning to expand its fleet and include more destinations to its existing network. A BBC correspondent in Dhaka says Biman currently has only eleven aircraft and twenty-five international routes and is losing millions of dollars every year.The airline is currently seeking a strategic international partner under a government plan for its partial privatisation.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service