He said this in response to journalists' questions at a briefing held at the Secretariat on Monday regarding the Prime Minister's visit to the United Nations. He said a process is underway to buy a total of 25 aircraft from Boeing of the United States. Of these, agreements were signed to purchase eight last April and another 11 during the Prime Minister's visit to the United Nations.

Regarding discussions that Boeing aircraft are being bought under pressure from the United States to reduce the trade deficit—Humayun Kabir said aircraft are being bought according to need. He also remarked that Bangladesh needs a mixed aircraft fleet to become an aviation hub.

He said a proposal has also come to buy aircraft from Europe's Airbus, and the government is also considering it.

At the briefing, the state minister also spoke about launching the Dhaka-New York flight. He said the flight had been suspended due to technical and security assessments. The current government has started technical and security assessments again. Once this process is completed, it will be possible to decide on launching the flight.