Five new aircraft, including two Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, will be added to the Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ fleet this year as the national flag carrier celebrates its 46th founding anniversary.
Biman started its journey on January 4, 1972, after being established by Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
AM Mosaddique Ahmed, Biman’s managing director and CEO, said two new Dreamliners would be added to the fleet this year while the flag carrier would fly on new routes.
“Our network will be expanded to China’s Guangzhou, Sri Lanka’s Colombo and Maldives’ capital Male,” he said, according to a media statement released by Biman on its website.
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Biman currently operates flights to 15 international, and seven domestic destinations. Its fleet has 13 aircraft, including four Boeing 777-300 ER, two Boeing 777-200 ER, four Boeing 737-800 ER, two Dash-8 Q400, and an Airbus A330.
The flag carrier had inked an agreement with Boeing in 2008 to purchase 10 aircraft. Six of them have already been added to the fleet. Of the four 787-8 Dreamliner planes, two will be added this year and two others in 2019. This year, three Dash-8 Q400 planes will also be added to the fleet.
Dreamliners are fuel-efficient long-haul aircraft.
Shakil Meraj, Biman general manager (public relations), said the national flag carrier had transported 52.5 million passengers in the last 46 years. In the last 2016-17 fiscal, it had a net profit of Tk47 crores.
Biman has also been carrying the bodies of expatriate Bangladeshis free of cost. It brought home bodies of 861 expatriates in the last fiscal year – 799 of them from the Middle East.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
