bdnews24.com :
Emboldened by ‘positive’ response on domestic routes, the struggling national carrier is looking for a Dash-8 aircraft to improve service quality.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines resumed flying to five domestic destinations on Apr 6, after a four-year gap.
Its Managing Director Kyle Heywood said there was a fair response from passengers since resumption of the flights.
He told bdnews24.com that they were reviewing options for adding another Dash-8 to the fleet.
Heywood said he believed Biman could improve its operations if they got one.
Judging from the response on domestic routes, he said he hoped the average load factor would increase.
‘Load factor’ is the ratio between total number of seats and passengers on a flight. A flight is considered profitable if the load factor is above 60 percent.
The current average load factor on domestic routes is between 70 and 72 percent. Biman hired two Dash-8 planes from Egyptian Smart Air to operate on internal and short-distance routes.
The 74-seater turbo-propeller planes will be with Biman for the next five years.
Biman resumed flights to Cox’s Bazaar, Jessore, Rajshahi, Syedpur and Barisal from Dhaka.
It also operates on Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet routes.
Heywood, however, said they had no plans to fly a fresh route with the new plane.
He said their primary goal was to maintain schedule on existing routes.
Emboldened by ‘positive’ response on domestic routes, the struggling national carrier is looking for a Dash-8 aircraft to improve service quality.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines resumed flying to five domestic destinations on Apr 6, after a four-year gap.
Its Managing Director Kyle Heywood said there was a fair response from passengers since resumption of the flights.
He told bdnews24.com that they were reviewing options for adding another Dash-8 to the fleet.
Heywood said he believed Biman could improve its operations if they got one.
Judging from the response on domestic routes, he said he hoped the average load factor would increase.
‘Load factor’ is the ratio between total number of seats and passengers on a flight. A flight is considered profitable if the load factor is above 60 percent.
The current average load factor on domestic routes is between 70 and 72 percent. Biman hired two Dash-8 planes from Egyptian Smart Air to operate on internal and short-distance routes.
The 74-seater turbo-propeller planes will be with Biman for the next five years.
Biman resumed flights to Cox’s Bazaar, Jessore, Rajshahi, Syedpur and Barisal from Dhaka.
It also operates on Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet routes.
Heywood, however, said they had no plans to fly a fresh route with the new plane.
He said their primary goal was to maintain schedule on existing routes.
