Ray Finkle

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Apr 22, 2012
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Birmingham
Possibilities of 2x weekly Dhaka-BHX-JFK from April, another one I won't hold my breath on given the stop start antics up the road.

It's interesting how they say BHX is more commercially viable than MAN. Have BHX turned a corner and will finally be offering a more competitive rate to airlines or is it desperation to have some long haul lined up for the opening of the runway extension?

Biman plans biweekly flights to New York by April
Eyes also set on Los Angeles, Canada routes
Jasim Khan
Publish : 08 Nov, 2013 00:00:00

The national flag carrier is likely to fly to New York from Dhaka via Birmingham twice a week by April next while the authorities are also planning to launch services on the Dhaka-Hong Kong-Los Angeles and Dhaka-Canada routes.

"A U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (US FAA) inspection team is due in Bangladesh in early 2014 to audit the possible Category 1 operations," Mr Kevin John Steele, Managing Director and CEO of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd said in a letter to the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) last week.

If the outcome of the inspection is positive, the Biman would resume its Dhaka-New York flight, Mr Kevin said.

"When we receive our next 2 new B777-300ER aircraft, we are looking to dry-lease one of those aircraft to a UK-based company which will help as an alternative to fly Biman aircraft to the USA, if the USFAA does not graduate Biman for Category 1," Mr Kevin clarified in his plan on the US and Canada operations.

According to him, the US requirements for any airline flying to that country are that either the airline must be registered in a country where the CAA has a Category 1 rating or wet-lease an aircraft from a company that is registered in a Category-1 country.

As part of the Biman's America plan, it now intends to fly on the Dhaka-Birmingham (BHX)-John F Kennedy (JFK) airport route instead of the earlier planned Dhaka-Manchester-JFK route.

"The option is better, because a greater number of Bangladeshis are living in Birmingham than in Manchester and the Birmingham offer is more commercially viable than the Manchester Airport's offer," Mr Kevin wrote.

However, Mr Kevin said as the Biman was expecting 4 B777-300ERs plus possibly the two (dry-lease) B777-200ERs, the Biman was also weighing the option of the Dhaka-Hong Kong-Los Angeles operation to take advantage of the open US skies.

Earlier, on Aug 17 last Bangladesh had signed an open sky agreement with the United States to resume its flights to New York.

The national flag career would also revive its maiden flight to Canada within te next year.

A Bangladesh delegation visited Canada in the last week of September for finalising an agreement with that country to this end.

"Once the deal is concluded, we will be able to start flights to Canada. Three passenger aircraft and three cargo aircraft will operate," said a high official of the Biman.

CAAB Flight Safety and Regulations Department Director SM Nazmul Anam said a technical team would arrive from the US to look into a number of issues, including the security arrangement at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

"We have to wait for the new Canada Air Service Agreement (ASA) before we decide on when we can operate our flights to Toronto. We, however, are disappointed that the Canadian authorities have not provided us with intermediate fifth freedom for flights to and from Europe, especially because the US, UK and European authorities have already granted it to us," he added.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/n ... 11/08/2855
 
It's interesting how they say BHX is more commercially viable than MAN

It would have helped Biman if MAN had not refused to allow a flight until some issues were dealt with. Not allowed to go into too much but MAN was not even an option for Biman (of course the spin in the press wouldn't reflect that though).
 
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I'm yet to hear someone say a good word about them. I guess introducing a nice shiny 773 and new routes to DAC and JFK is just the sort of publicity Mr Kehoe will want to appease the naysayers when the runway opens.
 
Flights often run very late (some at MAN were delayed by 24 hour plus).

They cut contracts and run, and are just very questionable at the best of times. They make PIA look positively professional.

I know it will be easy to say this is jealousy, but MAN is better off without them. Apart from handling fees they bring nothing to the airport. Few passengers (most are transit), so very little ancillary revenue. Like you say I would bet this is purely so Paul Kehoe has the bragging rights of a new long haul foreign airline.
 
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Anyone fancy a scenic ride on a DC-10?

News

Biman News



Dear Customer,



There has been a lot of interest lately from press, aviation enthusiasts and the general public, on what will be happening with Biman’s last DC10s, which will be phased out in the coming months with the arrival of new aircraft. These are the last flying passenger DC10-30 aircraft in the whole world. So I thought I would take this opportunity to brief you with the latest news, which will be updated when further firm news becomes available.



Biman currently has 2 DC10-30s flying. As their fuel consumption is higher than other aircraft in our fleet, they are used sparingly. One of those DC10s will come to the end of its economic life on 10th November 2013 (today), and will be scrapped locally. The last DC10 will continue normal flying until 7th December 2013, the start of the revised schedule for the fog period here in Dhaka. Thereafter, it will only be used as a standby aircraft, in case another aircraft in our fleet become unserviceable for any reason. We will not be scheduling it on any route though.



This last DC10 will continue as a standby aircraft until sometime in February 2014. The exact date is not known yet, as it is being coordinated with the arrival of our brand new B777-300ER aircraft from Boeing. We expect to know the exact date in early January 2014.



The last DC10 is being donated to a museum in the USA, a fitting end for an aircraft that has served Biman loyally and well over many year. Accordingly, we will then offer for sale, as a last opportunity to travel on a passenger DC10, anywhere in the world:

a. Seats on a last flight Dhaka to Birmingham (UK). Note this will need a technical stop
somewhere.

b. 2 (or more if demand requires it) one hour ‘scenic tours’ to/from Birmingham

c. We are unsure if the US authorities will give us traffic rights on the Birmingham to USA
sector. If they do, this will also be offered for sale.

d. We are also discussing with the UK POost Office, about the carriage of ‘Last day Covers’
on the last sector Birmingham-USA, for sale at a later date.



Tickets will only be sold via our website, hopefully from early January, so do not buy tickets elsewhere, we want these tickets to go to genuine aviation enthusiasts. If there is a demand for more ‘scenic tour’ flights at Birmingham, we can consider these too.


We hope you will join with us in celebrating the farewell of a loyal, beautiful aircraft, but also to recognize that the time has now come for Biman to equip itself with the very latest in new aircraft and technology.



Kevin Steele

MD & CEO

https://www.biman-airlines.com/about/ne ... 7e508f36b8
 
Interesting news. It'll be the first time we've got a proper 'transiting' flight through BHX since Air India terminated their YYZ route in 2008. Maybe it's all mainly down to the landing fees being lowered, and thus now attracting more airlines?

As far as reliability is concerned, Airblue & Air India did turn up, and seem to be getting on decently.
 
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Well I never thought I'd see the day that an airline said a BHX offer was more commercially viable than MAN, my money would be on desperation to get long haul routes in time for the extension opening.

Anna.aero are reporting that Biman may also use BHX to transit through to Canada, although the article appears to be guess work based on the Biman contingent being in Canada recently and the BHX lot were there last week (they're in china this week having talks, a nice job for someone).
 
Well I never thought I'd see the day that an airline said a BHX offer was more commercially viable than MAN, my money would be on desperation to get long haul routes in time for the extension opening

In terms of the BHX end, I would not be surprised if they were offered a next to nothing deal so that the runway extension had something to be opened 'with a bang'.

In terms of the MAN side, Ive heard the fees for Biman included a small 'insurance' charge, due to the fact Biman have up sticks and left MAN mid contract twice in the past, so MAN wanted some assurances it would not happen again, but Biman could not guarantee anything. (says it all really).

All in all, despite the rather bias anna.aero article, I don't think MAN will be loosing any sleep over this decision. The route will add little to BHX in terms of charges/ancillary revenue, probably very little passenger wise since most seats will be for DAC-JFK-DAC, and is just a chance to have another foreign tail at BHX more than anything.
 
So now we've got biman coming for the extension opening, who'll do you think next of the big airlines to sign up at BHX...i wonder....andyc
 
So by Spring (or whenever Biman starts), we'll have three new long-haulers in the space of a year. Makes for good photographing opportunity. :LOL:

It's nice to see them making a real effort now.
 
I hope it works well for them. It wont go unnoticed by other long haul carriers either so more might follow. Fingers crossed!
 
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Not officially but there was what appeared to be an internal email from Mr Kehoe confirming it will be 2x weekly with a 773 starting April 2014, with flights on sale from Dec 20th.
 
Does it transit through BHX to JFK twice a week too?

How long did it last at MAN (the JFK leg)? Not too long it seems. I hope it works out for BHX.
 
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Hassaan13 said:
Does it transit through BHX to JFK twice a week too?

It will be DAC-BHX-JFK-BHX-DAC 2x weekly so you'll see them four times a week at BHX, assuming they get the relevant US clearance that is.
 
Ray Finkle said:
Hassaan13 said:
Does it transit through BHX to JFK twice a week too?

It will be DAC-BHX-JFK-BHX-DAC 2x weekly so you'll see them four times a week at BHX, assuming they get the relevant US clearance that is.

I assume this is the issue they had with MAN (US clearance).
 

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