Biman Bangladesh Airlines

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Biman Bangladesh Airlines
বিমান বাংলাদেশ
IATA
BG		 ICAO
BBC		 Callsign
BANGLADESH
Founded 1972
Hubs Zia International Airport
Frequent flyer program Frequent Flyer Program (No Name)
Fleet size 9
Destinations ??
Headquarters Dhaka
Key people Dr. M. A. Momen (CEO)
Website: www.bimanair.com

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Bangla:বিমান বাংলাদেশ) is an airline based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the national airline and operates domestic services and international routes to Asia and Europe. It has a 2 star ranking by Skytrax. Its main base is Zia International Airport, Dhaka.

Contents

[edit] Name

The name Bangladesh Biman comes from the Bangla word biman, meaning "airplane". The word biman comes from the Sanskrit word vimāna, a name given to a type of flying machine mentioned in ancient Vedic literature.

Biman McDonnell Douglas DC-10
Biman McDonnell Douglas DC-10
Biman Airbus A310-300
Biman Airbus A310-300

[edit] Livery

Dark green and red cheatlines on a white fuselage, with the name "Biman Bangladesh" written in green, in English on one side and Bengali on the other. The name is across the front part of the fuselage. A Bangladesh flag is next to the name. The logo of a stylized white bird flying inside a red circle is located at the tail, with dark green and red lines above and below the red circle.

[edit] History

Biman Bangladesh Airlines was established on 4 January 1972. It started operations in February 1972 when the Bangladesh Air Force gave the company a Douglas DC-3 that had seen action in World War II as a present. Soon after, a Boeing 707 and Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft joined the airline's fleet, allowing Biman to begin international flights.

In 1983 Biman acquired Douglas DC-10 aircraft and subsequently other planes such as the Airbus A310, Fokker F28 and British Aerospace BAe ATP. On 31 January 2003, the airline received 2 Boeing 737-300s.

The airline is fully owned by the Bangladesh government but at one stage the government was planning to offer 40% of Biman to foreign airlines, with the intention that the buyer would assume management control of the carrier. Due to the many strings attached to the deal and the fact that the government wanted to retain the main decision making rights, no airlines took up the offer and the plan was shelved.

The airline has been dogged by corruption for many years at all levels of management.[1] In 2007, the caretaker government launched an anti-corruption drive which saw the arrest of ex-prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia's brother, Shamim Iskander (a former Biman pilot and manager), on many corruption charges.[2] This was shortly followed by the forced retirement of thirty-five other employees and officials, some of whom were close aides of Iskander.[3]

[edit] Current Events

This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Biman to become Public Limited Company soon

[edit] New York & Manchester routes

Biman had been operating two flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York from Dhaka via Brussels. JFK was Biman's most farthest and prestigious destination and had been kept running for years, incurring heavy losses on each flight, in order to maintain a landing slot in the US which, if cancelled, would be difficult to regain.[4]

In order to minimise the losses, the decision was made to cancel one of the flights and re-route the remaining one through Manchester Airport in the UK since there was a higher demand from the expatriate Bangladeshi community in the north of England.

On 8 April 2006, Biman's inaugral flight to Manchester, landed at Manchester Airport en-route to JFK.[5]

However, the US FAA did not agree to the re-routing of the flight from Brussels to Manchester and fined Biman for breaching its rules.[6] Biman was therefore forced to revert the route back via Brussels.

The FAA had placed the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh into Category 2 (does not meet ICAO standards) according to its International Aviation Safety Assessment Program. This categorisation of the country's CAA placed additional restrictions on the country's airlines when flying to the US. A former CAAB assistant director made scathing remarks against the CAAB in an opinion article in the Aviatour. For Biman, this meant that it could continue flying to the US, but could not expand or make changes to its routes such as changing the transit from Brussels to Manchester. Additionally, the FAA had previously warned Biman to replace, by December 2005, the ageing DC-10s which, according to experts, did not have the necessary equipment for safely crossing the Atlantic.[7][8]

On 2006-05-13, the FAA refused permission for Biman flight BG011 (DAC-DXB-BRU-JFK) to enter its airspace, citing safety concerns over the ailing DC-10 aircraft being used on the route.[9] Instead, the flight was diverted to Montreal Airport in Canada where the passengers were provided with alternative flights to JFK.[10] The Canadian authorities inspected the aircraft and gave it a clean bill of health after which the aircraft returned to Dhaka without any passengers. Later the FAA admitted it was mistaken and apologised for the error.[11][12]

This was, however, the final nail in the coffin for a flight which was losing $80,000 per flight due to the use of ageing DC10 aircraft.[13] Biman decided to axe the route along with a number of other regional and domestic routes to curb the huge losses being incurred each month.[14]

[edit] Accidents and Incidents

  • 10 February 1972: The first accident in Biman's history occurred less than a month after starting operations. All five crew members were killed when the Douglas DC-3 crashed near Dhaka.
  • 18 November 1979: A Fokker F27, being used for flight training, was forced to land in a field near Savar Bazar after the engines caught fire and cut out following a stall test at 8,000 feet. The aircraft was written off following the mishap.
  • 3 April 1980: A scheduled international flight from Singapore (QPG-DAC) slid back on the runway, after the gears were retracted, from a height of 100 feet landing on its belly. All four engines had apparently lost power although it was also deemed possible that the takeoff was aborted too late[15]. The Boeing 707 was written off following the incident.
  • 4 August 1984: A flight from the port city of Chittagong (CGP-DAC) crashed near Dhaka killing all 49 people on board. Captain Kaniz Fatema Roksana, the airline's first female pilot, made two attempts to land in reduced visibility but failed to sight the runway. On the third attempt the Fokker F-27 crashed in swamps 500 metres short of the runway[16][17].
  • 22 December 1997: Flight BG609 (DAC-ZYL) made a belly landing on paddy fields 3km short of Osmani International Airport in heavy fog. 17 of the 89 people on board were injured but no one was killed in the incident. The Fokker F28 suffered substantial damages and was written off[18][19].
  • 8 October 2004: Flight BG601 (DAC-ZYL) landed far down the 9000 feet runway at Osmani International Airport in heavy rain and overshot the end by 150 feet coming to rest in a ditch 15 ft deep. The Fokker F28 suffered substantial damage to the forward fuselage and was written off. All 79 passengers (including a number of VIPs from the Bangladesh government) escaped with some minor injuries but the captain, Shahana Begum, suffered a broken arm[18]. Subsequently, the body of the damaged plane was sold by Biman for BDT 11 lakh to Western Grill Air Corporation who converted it into a restaurant sited at Ashulia, Dhaka[20][21].
  • 1 July 2005: Flight BG048 (DXB-CGP-DAC) skidded off runway 23 and onto the grass at Shah Amanat International Airport while landing during heavy rain. The right-hand undercarriage of the Douglas DC-10-30 caught fire. Ten passengers were injured while exiting the aircraft[22]. An enquiry found no faults with the aircraft and put the blame for the accident on the inefficiency of the pilot who was later sacked by Biman[23].
  • 12 March 2007: Flight BG006 (LHR-DXB-DAC), carrying 236 passengers and crew, the nose gear of the Airbus A310-300 collapsed while accelerating down the runway[24]. Fourteen people suffered minor injuries in the accident at Dubai International Airport[25]. The aircraft came to rest at the end of the runway and was evacuated, but crippled the only active runway and forced the airport to close for eight hours[26]

[edit] Destinations

Biman Bangaldesh operates the following services (at March 2007):

[edit] Bangladesh

[edit] South Asia

[edit] Asia

[edit] Middle East

[edit] Europe

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Current

The Biman Bangladesh fleet includes the following aircraft (as of August 2006):[27]

Biman Fleet
Type Total Passengers
(First*/Economy)		 Routes Notes
Airbus A310-300 4 Medium-Long haul
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 5 Medium-Long haul
Fokker F28 Mk4000 4 Domestic

*First Class is Offered Only On Selected Routes.

[edit] Previously operated

[edit] Future Orders

In March 2007, Biman put out a tender for the dry lease of 2 Airbus A310-300 & 2 Airbus A300-600 aircraft for a period of 2 years for delivery by July 2007.[28]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nothing impossible in Biman purchase. The Daily Star (2006-10-08).
  2. ^ Clipping the wings. The Daily Star (2007-03-16).
  3. ^ 35 Biman staff sent on forced retirement. The Daily Star (2007-03-28).
  4. ^ Biman to reroute NY flight to halve loss. The Daily Star (2006-03-05).
  5. ^ Manchester Airport Reports and Images. Ringway Reports (April 2006).
  6. ^ Biman to suspend NY flights in June. New Age BD (2006-05-04).
  7. ^ Biman not to continue flight to New York. New Age BD (2006-07-27).
  8. ^ Biman in a ferrango. The Bangladesh Today (2006-05-17).
  9. ^ Bangladesh flight banned entry into US over safety issues. Aero-News Network (2006-05-15).
  10. ^ CAAB warned of poor aircraft maintenance. The Daily Star (2006-05-16).
  11. ^ U.S. Apologizes Again To Bangladesh For Barring Aircraft Landing. All Headline News (2006-05-17).
  12. ^ US says Biman landing ban was a mistake. Aero-News Network (2006-05-17).
  13. ^ Bangladesh Biman hits the buffers. BBC News Online (2006-05-16).
  14. ^ Saturday saw the last DC 10 Dhaka-New York flight. New Age BD (2006-07-30).
  15. ^ Aviation Safety Network Report. Aviation Safety Network (1980-04-03).
  16. ^ Aviation Safety Network Report. Aviation Safety Network (1984-08-05).
  17. ^ 49 Die in Bangladesh As Plane Plunges. New York Times (1984-08-06).
  18. ^ a b Chronology of Biman mishaps. The Daily Star (2004-10-09).
  19. ^ Miracle of plane crash survivors. BBC News Online (1997-12-25).
  20. ^ F-28 aircraft shell to make restaurant. New Age Metro (2005-10-09).
  21. ^ First-ever airplane restaurant in city. The Daily Star (2005-08-29).
  22. ^ Biman DC-10 skids off runway. The New Nation (2005-07-01).
  23. ^ Biman pilot sacked over DC-10 crash. The Daily Star (2006-09-10).
  24. ^ Aviation Safety Network Report. Aviation Safety Network (2007-03-12).
  25. ^ Dubai Jet Accident Injures 14. CNN (2007-03-12).
  26. ^ Flight International 20-26 March 2007
  27. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006
  28. ^ Dry Lease of two A310-300 and two A300-600 Aircraft. Central Procurement Technical Unit.

[edit] External links

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