BUDAPEST, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Defense Minister Imre Szekeres said on Thursday that the Hungarian government is considering buying L-159 training aircraft from the Czech Republic to allow Hungarian pilots' fulfilling the required flying hours, Hungarian News Agency MTI reported.

    As the MiG-29 model aircraft is slowly being phased out of the air force fleet, pilots will only have access to 14 Gripen fighter jets to fulfill their flying time requirement, Szekeres said. He added that the number of hours available for flying would be insufficient.

    The options on review besides the Czech offer include leasing 14 more Gripen jets at a cost of 145 billion forints (593 million euros) and an annual operation fee of 5 billion forints, increasing the number of flying hours in Hungary's existing Gripe contract at a cost of 6 billion forints (24.4 million euros) per plane, or keeping the MiGs in operation.

    None of the other options seems as cost-efficient as the Czechoffer, Szekeres said.