Biman to reopen 2 international routes

The Biman Bangladesh Airlines has decided to reopen two international routes from the next month.

Flights on Dhaka-Delhi route will start from May 6 and on Dhaka-Hong Kong route from May 13.

“The routes remained closed for a long time and we had been thinking how to make them profitable,” struggling public carrier’s Marketing and Sales Director Muhammad Shah Newaz told bdnews24.com.

He hoped the new plans would prove beneficial for the flag carrier.

Newaz said no decision had yet been made on the flight frequencies on the twin routes.

The Biman had suspended operations of 26 flights on 16 routes to meet the requirements of the last Hajj season. Flights to Hong Kong and Delhi were suspended as part of that exercise.

Aviation analysts say the new initiative would bring ‘mixed results’.

The Hong Kong route could be beneficial for the struggling airliner, but the Delhi route could prove ‘suicidal’.

“There will be no problem in getting passengers for the Hong Kong route, given the buoyant manpower market there. The route is also beneficial since it is used to carry goods all around the year,” aviation expert and former member of Biman’s Board of Directors Kazi Wahedul Alam told bdnews24.com.

However, he felt new aircraft would be needed to make the route profitable.

Alam said the maintenance cost of DC-10 aircraft was too high, and advised against operating them on this route.

He said the authorities should consider the matter seriously since three-fourths of the planes of the current fleet were not in very good shape.

The expert further said the Biman would not be benefited by operating only ‘point to point’ flights on the Delhi route.

He, instead, suggested operating connecting flights on the Delhi route could be beneficial. “Otherwise, it would be somewhat like a suicidal decision,” Alam warned.

He pointed out that the Biman had tried to operate on the route in the past also, but failed to sustain.