Biman Bangladesh

[Aviador]

Could have been a wonderful centrepiece for a new BHX viewing park. :sad:

 

[Ray Finkle]

Although it would never be economically viable it would have been awesome to have had a DC-10 decking viewing area.

Are the Egypt Air 772's now off the table?

Biman have tenders out for two aircraft of 250 seats or more on an ACMI basis for 12 months with the option to convert to dry lease for another four years should Biman be granted Cat 1 status (for the US). There is also another tender seeking partners for their new 773's (see below).

Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited is looking for CMI (Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) partner for operation 02 (two) of its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to USA. Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is currently at category-2 and as such cannot operate its 777-300ER aircraft to USA under own AOC.


Numbers 8 & 9 on this list.

http://www.biman-airlines.com/corporate/tender

 

[User0001]

I notice the tender states 'USA via UK or any European airport'.

Seems the possibility to switch has still not been ironed out!

 

[Ray Finkle]

I see Biman will be putting a DVD/Blu Ray of the DC-10 flights on sale in the summer, here is the teaser

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqi-FGiQllA[/video]

 

[Brum X]

Its all gone very very quiet Re: Biman Flights ???????


BHX no longer in the drop down list on Biman webiste ;-(

 

[Ray Finkle]

There is a lot going on behind the scenes but it's not going to be straight forward trying to lease an aircraft initially using their AOC to fly into the US then converting it to lease only when Biman themselves obtain Cat 1.

 

[Ray Finkle]

CEO Kevin Steele has resigned from Biman on health grounds.

 

[User0001]

And given he was the main champion for BHX/JFK flights despite top government officials not keen on the idea, could they now be off the table? It wont be the first time BHX has fallen fowl of a CEO change (Air India).

 

[Ray Finkle]

Quite possibly, BHX had already got the Air India route signed and sealed when the then boss got the bullet so the whole process had to start again from the beginning, we'll just have to wait and see who's next in the Biman seat and what their plans are.

 

[thunderchild]

http://www.skyliner-aviation.de/regdb.m ... av4&page=3

Looks like one of the former Egyptair planes has been delivered to Dhaka

 

[CL44]

Just spoke to the GSA selling the freight space for BG and they have advised that the service is still scheduled to start in June from BHX to DAC (and hopefully JFK as well). They are currently going around calling Agents trying to guage how much traffic there might be for the routes.
It is a good sign for them to do this (perhaps a month or six late but that is by the by). Looks like we will have a new service to open the runway with after all.

 

[Brum X]

I really hope they start as well, will be good to see a new Long haul route out of BHX.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's definitely a positive, thanks for the info.

 

[User0001]

I have it on good authority that if the CEO offering reverts to type (ex Air Force types), then any chance of a BHX and JFK route will be a distant memory. Time will tell I suppose.

 

[Ray Finkle]

JFK now aiming to start mid August, no mention of BHX so I think it's safe to say it aint gonna happen.

http://www.dhakatribune.com/foreign-aff ... mid-august

 

[User0001]

Im under the impression Biman are required to stop en-route in a 'trusted' country to perform security checks.

If BHX is out of the picture it will be interesting to see where they go. Brussels has been used in the past, or maybe de-tag the recently opened 2 weekly Frankfurt from Rome and use FRA as the stop off point?

 

[Ash]

There seems to be a lot of idle speculation regarding Biman, so here's something concrete.

Biman's application to USDOT (below) was made January this year. It includes a nice history lesson on BG's historical US ops and details the rights they hold. It also details the planned BHX ops (from June 2x/w) starting with wet lease and moving to BG metal conditional on FAA audit of CAAB.

Currently BG holds rights to fly via points DEL, DXB, BRU, MAN and AMS. The application is to replace the MAN point with BHX. As of yet USDOT hasn't responded, so this appears to be at least one of the sources of delay.

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=DOT-OST-1995-488-0018

 

[Hassaan]

I'm not so sure about the possibilities - especially as it has already been delayed. If they were really intending to start in June (or even before) and they [surely?] knew that there would be issues like this regarding security, then they should have spent more time beforehand making sure it was definitely going to work?

Maybe it'll be an Air India-like success, or a moderate one, but the chances are looking slim.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It appears Biman are/were also planning to route through BHX to Toronto according to the cargo general sales agent they appointed in Canada.

As part of its reorganization plan, Biman will re-institute twice-weekly service between Dhaka and New York’s JFK in April 2014, with additional plans to initiate service between Dhaka and Toronto in November 2014. Both flights will operate modern B777-ER equipment, with intermediate stops in Birmingham, UK.

http://www.talaviation.com/Biman-Bangla ... -in-Canada

 

[Hassaan]

It appears Biman are/were also planning to route through BHX to Toronto according to the cargo general sales agent they appointed in Canada.

Crazy how they *were* planning to fly to YYZ too before even getting up and running over here!

They need to get on the tarmac & settle in first, IMO. Is the deal actually off? What would you say is the possibility of them actually starting up?