UNB, Dhaka :
Two big incidents involving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-the delay in the landing of a flight carrying her at Dhaka airport and the emergency landing of another flight carrying her in Turkmenistan-dented the already damaged image of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in the outgoing year. The Biman flight, Boeing 777-300ER, carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage had to make an emergency landing at Ashgabat International Airport in Turkmenistan on her way to Budapest on November 27 following low engine oil pressure. The left engine of the national flag carrier plane, ‘Ranga Prabhat’, stopped when it was flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on board.
Three probe committees were formed by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) and Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry on November 28 to look into the incident. Biman suspended nine of its officials as all the probe panels found that a loose nut had caused leakage of engine oil lowering the oil pressure in engine-1 of the VVIP flight. A case was also filed against them. The accused are Biman Chief Engineer (Production) Debesh Chowdhury, Chief Engineer (Quality Assurance) SA Siddique, Principal Engineer (Maintenance and System Control) Billal Hossain, Engineers SM Rokonuzzaman, Samiul Haque, Lutfar Rahman, Milon Chandra Biswas, Jakir Hossain and Technician Siddiqur Rahman.
Later, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested seven of them while two others surrendered before a court. They were also put on a seven-day remand separately to interrogate over the incident. After the incident, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said the government was considering procuring an aircraft for the President and the Prime Minister’s VVIP trips. “The matter has been
discussed with the finance minister (AMA Muhith). It’ll be procured very soon,” he had said.
The Prime Minister, however, turned down the possibility of buying new aircraft, saying she did not think there was any necessity to buy separate aircraft for them. She had also termed it unnecessary luxury. In June, another VVIP flight carrying the Prime Minister back from Saudi Arabia had to remain airborne around Shahjalal International Airport as the pilot spotted something on the runway. Meanwhile, Biman could not induct two new aircraft into its fleet due to the alleged procrastination in decision-making process. It decided to add two 737-800 aircraft from GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to its fleet for 60 months on dry lease. But when the Board of Directors gave the approval, Biman found that the company had already leased those aircraft to others. Biman floated another tender to procure two 737-800 aircraft with seat capacity of 162 — 12 business class and 150 economy class – each. According to the tender paper, the airliner is expecting to include the aircraft in its fleet within January to June next, preferably April, whereas the previous two were supposed to commence from the third quarter.
Biman has four Boeing 777-300 ERs, two Boeing 777-200 ERs, two Airbus A310-300s, four Boeing 737-800s and two Dash-8s in its fleet. The national flag carrier also has a plan to resume its operations on Dhaka-Delhi-Dhaka and Dhaka-Hong Kong-Dhaka routes in the upcoming days. It also decided to start its operation on Dhaka-Guangzhou (China)-Dhaka, Dhaka-Colombo (Sri Lanka)-Dhaka and Dhaka-Male (The Maldives)-Dhaka routes in the new year. Biman has planned to start its operation on Dhaka-Narita (Japan)-Dhaka route after having suitable aircraft in its fleet and commercial feasibility study, according to the sources.
As per its fleet plan, they said, Biman will operate its flights to Sydney, Jakarta, Toronto and Madras in phases. However, Biman has made some progress in hiring partner for its much-talked-about ground handling activities in the country’s all airports to improve the quality of the job.
Biman General Manager (PR) Shakil Meraj said the consultant company has started its work, and it is now evaluating the offers that came in response to the relevant tender. Biman Bangladesh Airlines has chosen the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for evaluating the tender proposals. The decision to take a partner was taken to maximise profitability, provide efficient, reliable and cost-effective solutions at all levels, ensure the compliance of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), ensure optimum utilisation of ground-handling assets, industrial relations and harmony and drive massive improvements in products and services and become a ‘Regional Centre of Excellence’.
Seven companies-Swissport International Ltd of Switzerland, SITA of Singapore, Egypt Air of Egypt, Dnata of Dubai, Celebi of Turkey and two others from India-have showed their interest to be Biman’s partner in ground-handling works. The national flag carrier remained the sole agent of the ground handling in the country’s all airports since the country’s independence. Biman now provides passenger and cargo services to seven domestic and 15 international destinations.
Two big incidents involving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-the delay in the landing of a flight carrying her at Dhaka airport and the emergency landing of another flight carrying her in Turkmenistan-dented the already damaged image of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in the outgoing year. The Biman flight, Boeing 777-300ER, carrying the Prime Minister and her entourage had to make an emergency landing at Ashgabat International Airport in Turkmenistan on her way to Budapest on November 27 following low engine oil pressure. The left engine of the national flag carrier plane, ‘Ranga Prabhat’, stopped when it was flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on board.
Three probe committees were formed by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) and Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry on November 28 to look into the incident. Biman suspended nine of its officials as all the probe panels found that a loose nut had caused leakage of engine oil lowering the oil pressure in engine-1 of the VVIP flight. A case was also filed against them. The accused are Biman Chief Engineer (Production) Debesh Chowdhury, Chief Engineer (Quality Assurance) SA Siddique, Principal Engineer (Maintenance and System Control) Billal Hossain, Engineers SM Rokonuzzaman, Samiul Haque, Lutfar Rahman, Milon Chandra Biswas, Jakir Hossain and Technician Siddiqur Rahman.
Later, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested seven of them while two others surrendered before a court. They were also put on a seven-day remand separately to interrogate over the incident. After the incident, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said the government was considering procuring an aircraft for the President and the Prime Minister’s VVIP trips. “The matter has been
discussed with the finance minister (AMA Muhith). It’ll be procured very soon,” he had said.
The Prime Minister, however, turned down the possibility of buying new aircraft, saying she did not think there was any necessity to buy separate aircraft for them. She had also termed it unnecessary luxury. In June, another VVIP flight carrying the Prime Minister back from Saudi Arabia had to remain airborne around Shahjalal International Airport as the pilot spotted something on the runway. Meanwhile, Biman could not induct two new aircraft into its fleet due to the alleged procrastination in decision-making process. It decided to add two 737-800 aircraft from GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to its fleet for 60 months on dry lease. But when the Board of Directors gave the approval, Biman found that the company had already leased those aircraft to others. Biman floated another tender to procure two 737-800 aircraft with seat capacity of 162 — 12 business class and 150 economy class – each. According to the tender paper, the airliner is expecting to include the aircraft in its fleet within January to June next, preferably April, whereas the previous two were supposed to commence from the third quarter.
Biman has four Boeing 777-300 ERs, two Boeing 777-200 ERs, two Airbus A310-300s, four Boeing 737-800s and two Dash-8s in its fleet. The national flag carrier also has a plan to resume its operations on Dhaka-Delhi-Dhaka and Dhaka-Hong Kong-Dhaka routes in the upcoming days. It also decided to start its operation on Dhaka-Guangzhou (China)-Dhaka, Dhaka-Colombo (Sri Lanka)-Dhaka and Dhaka-Male (The Maldives)-Dhaka routes in the new year. Biman has planned to start its operation on Dhaka-Narita (Japan)-Dhaka route after having suitable aircraft in its fleet and commercial feasibility study, according to the sources.
As per its fleet plan, they said, Biman will operate its flights to Sydney, Jakarta, Toronto and Madras in phases. However, Biman has made some progress in hiring partner for its much-talked-about ground handling activities in the country’s all airports to improve the quality of the job.
Biman General Manager (PR) Shakil Meraj said the consultant company has started its work, and it is now evaluating the offers that came in response to the relevant tender. Biman Bangladesh Airlines has chosen the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for evaluating the tender proposals. The decision to take a partner was taken to maximise profitability, provide efficient, reliable and cost-effective solutions at all levels, ensure the compliance of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), ensure optimum utilisation of ground-handling assets, industrial relations and harmony and drive massive improvements in products and services and become a ‘Regional Centre of Excellence’.
Seven companies-Swissport International Ltd of Switzerland, SITA of Singapore, Egypt Air of Egypt, Dnata of Dubai, Celebi of Turkey and two others from India-have showed their interest to be Biman’s partner in ground-handling works. The national flag carrier remained the sole agent of the ground handling in the country’s all airports since the country’s independence. Biman now provides passenger and cargo services to seven domestic and 15 international destinations.
