State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism M Mahbub Ali, while inaugurating the maiden Dhaka-Madinah direct flight on Monday, said the national flag carrier has been expanding its network in domestic as well as in international arena. The inaugural ceremony was held at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital. Biman Bangladesh Airlines, as part of its expansion plan, launched direct flight operation from Dhaka to Madinah as the second destination to Saudi Arabia after Jeddah.
Mahbub Ali said the government has decided to establish direct air connectivity to Madinah as the second destination to Saudi Arbia because the number of Umrah pilgrims is increasing every year. Besides, the new route will also benefit a large number of Bangladeshi expatriate workers residing in Saudi Arabia.
At the initiative and directives of the Prime Minister, 10 modern aircrafts have been added to Biman’s fleet. Soon two new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will be added to its fleet, the minister added. He further said fleet expansion is a continuous process, and as part of the process, three Dash 8Q 400 will be procured from the Canadian Commercial Company, which will be added to Biman’s fleet by June next year.
In addition, the government’s preparation are now under way to expand Biman’s wing to Manchester, Narita, Colombo, Mali and New York by 2020, the state minister hoped. Biman will operate flights to Dhaka-Madinah-Dhaka route three days a week – Saturday, Monday and Wednesday; and to Chattagram-Madinah-Chattagram route on every Thursday.
Biman deployed its newly purchased Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with a capacity of 271 seats, including 24 business and 247 economic class to operate the flights on Madinah sector. The Madina route is a part of Biman’s ongoing endeavour of expanding its international destination routes, the minister added.
The national flag carrier is also considering launching flight to Guangzhou and reopening flights to Sri Lanka’s Colombo and Male in the Maldives and of increasing flight frequencies on existing routes. Apart from the Dhaka-Madinah new route, Biman is operating flights to 16 other international and seven domestic destinations with 16 aircraft — four Boeing 787-8, four Boeing 777-300ER, five Boeing 737-800s and three Dash-8 Q400.
In 2008, Biman Bangladesh Airlines signed a $ 2.1 billion agreement with Boeing, an American multinational corporation, to purchase 10 new aircrafts. Boeing has already handed over all 10 aircrafts – four 777-300ER’s and two 737-800’s and four 787-8 Dreamliner to Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
