Biman set to resume Narita flight tomorrow after 17 years

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Biman Bangladesh Airlines is set to resume its much waited direct Dhaka-Narita-Dhaka flight tomorrow aspiring to make the Bangladesh Japan direct air connectivity as a profitable route.

The inaugural flight will take off from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11:45pm local time and reach Narita International Airport in Japan on September 2 at 9:15 am local time.

State minister for civil aviation and tourism M Mahbub Ali will inaugurate the inaugural flight as the chief guest while Japan ambassador to Bangladesh Iwama Kiminori to be present.

Biman Board of directors chairman Mostofa Kamal Uddin, Principle Secretary of the Prime Minister office Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah, civil aviation and tourism secretary Md Mokammel Hossain, and Civil Aviation Authority Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Maidur Rahman will also join the opening ceremony.

“Dhaka-Narita could be a promising route for Biman Bangladesh Airlines as we are expecting passengers from our neighboring countries travelers apart from the local passengers,” Shafiul Azim, Managing Director and CEO of Biman  Bangladesh said today.

He said Biman has already offer lucrative packages with more weight on baggage for its Narita route to attract travelers from Nepal and Kolkata.

Besides Bangladesh, there are about 41,000 Indians, and 1.40 lakh Nepalese nationals living in Japan. So, passengers from India and Nepal can fly to and from Japan via Dhaka in only six hours,” Biman’s chief said.

Besides, he said, currently many Japanese companies have been extending to their business here while numbers of Bangladeshi students are enrolling in different Japanese universities.

According to the Ministry of Justice, Japan, till 2022, there were 20,954 Bangladeshis living in Japan.

The Biman Chief said the national flag carrier is planning to carry its passengers to Australia, the west coast of the United States and Canada with the help of other carriers via Japan through code sharing.

“We are exploring with other airlines interlinking or code sharing so that we can offer our passengers different routes beyond Japan like a 360 degree airline,” Azim said.

He said currently Biman is working with Japan Airlines Ltd (JAL), All Nippon Airways and Air Canada for code sharing.

Code sharing is a marketing arrangement in which an airline places its designator code on a flight operated by another airline, and sells tickets for that flight. Airlines throughout the world continue to form code-share arrangements to strengthen or expand their market presence and competitive ability.

Biman will operate weekly three flights with Dreamliner 787-8 and 787-9 aircrafts.

The flight will depart from Dhaka every Friday, Monday and Wednesday and from Narita every Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Currently the national flag carrier is negotiating with Airbus, to purchase 10 brand new planes from the European aircraft manufacturer.

At present, Biman has a total of 21 aircraft in its fleet, of these, four are Boeing 777-300 ER, four are Boeing 787-8, two are Boeing 787-9, six are Boeing 737 and five are Dash 8-400 aircraft. (BSS)