Biman sees huge potentials on direct air connectivity between Bangladesh and Japan as the national flag carrier is set to resume its Dhaka-Narita flight on September 1.
"Dhaka-Narita could be a promising route for Biman Bangladesh Airlines in terms of providing long-term stable and competitive service in the market," said Shafiul Azim, Managing Director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh on Monday.
He made the remark at a meeting with a delegation of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) at Biman head office on the occasion of inaugurating Dhaka-Narita flight.
Azim said that he is hopeful to resuming the route as 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. "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," Biman's chief said.
He apprised the Japanese delegation that they never compromise with the safety and security standards as the airline complies with all International Air Transport Association (IATA) and IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).
"Biman successfully completed international accreditation for the 9th IOSA-IATA operational safety audit," he said.
Biman's marketing general manager Mohammed Salahuddin, said that they are eager to sign deal with Japanese companies and businesses to offer special packages.
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.