Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire to Receive One CN235 Aircraft Each from Indonesia

Indonesian PT Dirgantara (PT DI) is preparing to sign a contract with Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire for the purchase of CN 235 aircraft.

“Each country will buy one CN235-220 aircraft,” PT DI sales division head Ibnu Bintarto was quoted as saying by  kontan.co.id on Tuesday.

He said, the purchase and sale contract would be signed in the near future.

He said Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire purchased PT DI’s aircraft through a European company. “The company acts as the buyer, whose end customers are Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire,” Ibnu added.

Ibnu’s statement clarified a previous report that the contract had been signed on Monday. PT DI will sign purchase and sale agreements with Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire for the procurement of two planes with total transaction value around US$ 75 million, Jakarta Post reported Tuesday.

CN235-220 medium-range twin-engined transport aircraft are a variant of the CN235-10, which was jointly developed by PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantata (IPTN), now PT DI, with Spanish aircraft manufacturer CASA in 1979.

Previously, PT DI signed a contract with Senegal for two CN235-10 aircraft and two CN235-200 aircraft. One of the CN235-220 aircraft is currently still under construction at a PT DI factory in Bandung, West Java.

Ibnu declined to reveal the value of the contract, but said the price of a CN235 aircraft was about US$30 million, depending on the variant and specifications ordered by the buyers.

PT DI sees Africa as a lucrative market as many countries are looking to replace their older aircraft. PT DI president director Elfien Guntoro previously said the company was hoping to sell 95 CN235 aircraft, 29 NC212i aircraft and 111 N219 aircraft on the continent.