Dhaka: The number of flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on the Dhaka-London route is being increased to 5. For this, the management authority of Biman has applied to the Heathrow Airport Authority for a 5th frequency. If it is approved, 5 flights will be operated on this route soon.
According to Biman sources, the management authority of the company is mainly increasing the number of flights on profitable routes to make the national flag carrier more dynamic. At the same time, the number of flights on loss-making routes is being reduced. In the meantime, the number of flights on the profitable Dhaka-Toronto route has been increased to three.
Meanwhile, the number of flights on the loss-making Dhaka-Narita and Dhaka-Manchester routes has been reduced by one each. In addition, the number of flights on the Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Delhi routes has been reduced.
Investigations have revealed that Biman is losing Tk. 1 crore 10 lakh on the Dhaka-Manchester route, Tk. 88 lakh on the Dhaka-Rome route and Tk. 20 crore on Narita every month. Until its closure in August 2006, each Dhaka-New York flight was losing Tk. 50 lakh. At that time, Biman had closed loss-making routes like Paris, Netherlands, Manchester, Frankfurt, Narita, and Rome. Later, the Rome, Narita, and Frankfurt routes were reopened.
The Rome flight was closed in two phases due to losses. This route was recently reopened. Frankfurt was reopened in 2014 and closed again within a few days.
Along with this, the number of routes has been reduced in some places to increase the efficiency of the existing routes. Basically, the number of flights has been increased on routes where there are fewer passengers or less demand, while the number of flights has been increased on routes where there is more demand. As a result, Biman's marketing department hopes that the airline's income will increase in the future on profitable routes.
Biman's management authorities said from previous bitter experiences that it is very important to operate the airline's current routes more efficiently. From now on, proper market research will be required in launching any new route. No steps will be taken to launch or expand routes without research.
In addition, Biman is keeping a special eye on promising destinations like Maldives. To increase the connectivity of the Dhaka-Rome route, it is working to enter into code sharing partnerships with various domestic routes from Rome to Italy and various parts of Europe. In the meantime, Biman has finalized an SPA (Sales and Purchase Agreement) agreement with Italy's flag carrier ITA Airways. Biman is also preparing to enter into an SPA with Japan Airlines.
Meanwhile, Biman is planning to land in Rome, Italy, instead of a stopover in Istanbul for efficient crew management. This is because the Istanbul airport authorities have already informed Biman to use a nearby airport instead of the main Istanbul airport.