After remaining suspended for nine years, Biman Bangladesh Airlines is likely to resume its operation on the Dhaka- Rome routes in late March. The authorities concerned are optimistic about resuming the flight operations on Independence Day.
As part of resuming the flight operation, all required preparations are going on, including appointing of general sales agent, opening of station and others. As per the plan, Biman will operate 3 weekly flights on this route. Biman Bangladesh Airlines Managing Director Shafiul Azim said, “We are working on keeping a few things in our plan to make the Dhaka- Rome flight operation profitable. We want to provide the best quality service to all our passengers. Hopefully, we will be able to do it within the time we are supposed to do.”
However, aviation analysts said that the route could be profitable for Biman if it could carry passengers from various European countries besides Rome to and from Bangladesh.
Aviation analyst Kazi Wahidul Alam told Bangladesh Post that if Biman operates flights only to Rome, it gets specific passengers for this route. Biman can make agreements with other European countries so that they can carry passengers to and from different European destinations.
According to Biman’s information, the national flag currently has 21 state-of-the-art aircraft including 787, 737, and 777 Dreamliners of Boeing companies to its fleet. Besides, there are plans to add 10 more new aircraft. It also plans to reopen new routes and closed routes as the fleet grows.
As those aircraft can easily operate on long distances, Biman is now eyeing to resume flights on existing routes besides expanding wings on new destinations.
The plan extract shows that Biman will operate 787 aircraft on this European route and passengers will be able to reach their destination within 9 hours if the flight directly fly to Roam from Dhaka. However, to make the route commercially successful, experts suggest connecting with Milan, and Frankfurt in addition to Rome.
Biman director (Marketing and Sales) Mohammed Salahuddin said, “At the beginning, we will operate three weekly flights from Dhaka to Rome. It will take eight to 10 hours flying hours. However, it has not been decided whether there will be a direct flight from Dhaka or transit.”
Until 2005, Biman Bangladesh Airlines operated flights on about 31 routes in Asia including Europe, America, Japan, Middle East. These flights were operated by old and leased aircraft. Due to the inability to reconcile the costs with the income, the flights of many routes were closed.
Biman’s Rome flight was discontinued on 6 April 2015 due to unprofitability. But now due to passenger demand, Biman is expecting profit.
