Biman Bangladesh Airlines would soon fly to Japan as the Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki has assured Biman high officials to provide overall support including its flight operation to Narita.
The Japanese Ambassador gave such assurance while paying a courtesy call to Biman Managing Director and CEO Md Zahid Hossain at Balaka Bhaban in the capital on Tuesday. Biman Bangladesh Airlines General Manager (Public Relation) Tahera Khandkar confirmed this information.
Biman’s MD & CEO welcomed the Japanese ambassador at Biman’s head office. In their formal meeting, detailed discussions were held on the development of direct air traffic, ground handling and customer service between Japan and Bangladesh.
In response to the MD’s proposal, the Japanese ambassador assured full cooperation.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to visit Japan before the end of this year. During her visit, both countries are optimistic that bilateral relationship will get a new dimension and flight operations from Bangladesh will also resume as Japan has already lifted restrictions on tourists.
It was known that Japan has given green signal to Bangladesh to operate flights. This means, Biman will be able to carry passengers from any middle point while operating flights on Dhaka to Tokyo, Narita routes.
Biman now has at least 10 long-haul aircraft in its fleet, but due to lack of routes, its aircraft are sitting idle for a long time. These include six Boeing 787 and four Boeing 777 model aircraft. Each of them is capable of flying for 16 hours continuously.
So far, long distance flights of Biman were operating only on the Dhaka-London route. It was also added to the list of long-haul routes after the start of flights to Toronto.
Direct flight from Dhaka to Narita takes about 8 and a half hours. It will also be a long-haul route for the Biman aircraft.
