Agency

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is set to resume its flights to New York in October after a break of about two years, said a special assistant to the chief adviser Friday.

For the new arrangement, Biman is trying to take a Boeing-777 on lease from Boeing Company. "If Biman fails to resume its New York flights by Oct 25 the Federal Aviation Authority will cancel the route permit for the national carrier," Mahbub Jamil, the CA's special assistant in charge of the civil aviation ministry, told bdnews24.com.

In line with conditions of an agreement Biman signed with Boeing to buy eight aircraft, the American company is meant to give four Boeing planes on lease to Biman before the eight aircraft are available. "Progress has already been achieved in negotiations on the lease arrangement," he said.

A Boeing delegation is set to arrive in Dhaka on April 12. "If a deal is struck, the Biman authorities will be able to take a plane on lease. Biman plans to introduce two direct flights to New York a week initially," Jamil said. In 1993, Biman introduced three flights to New York a week.

Facing continuous loss, the national carrier stopped one flight in the first phase. The New York flight was completely stopped in 2006. Biman signed an agreement with Boeing on March 15 to buy four Boeing-777 planes and as many Boeing-787s for $1.26 billion.

Biman also leased a Boeing-747 from a Nigerian company on March 11 to overcome the shortage of planes. Biman last month floated an international tender to take another aircraft on lease.

Biman fleet includes one Boeing -747, four DC-10s, three Airbus planes and three F-28s. As the planes are old and frequently go out of order, Biman finds it difficult to maintain its flight schedule.

Comments

Add New

Write comment
Name:
Email:	We don't publish your mail. See privacy policy.
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.