After nearly eight years, direct flight operations between Dhaka and Manchester resumed on Sunday. Civil aviation and tourism state minister MD Mahbub Ali inaugurated BG007 flight operation on this route as chief guest. He said, new aircraft are being added to Biman’s fleet to increase the service quality. Today we are resuming flight operation to Manchester and hope to introduce new routes in the coming days.
“We have inaugurated Biman mobile apps, through which passengers will be able to purchase their ticket and they can pay their fare by bkash, rocket or any bank’s card. With this app, travelers will get all the information related to the flight, flight status, flight schedule, address of sales centers, online ticket, and refund helpdesk and all information related to ticket booking”, added the state minister.
Senior secretaries of the ministry, chairman of the Biman’s board of directors, managing director and CEO of Biman, British Deputy High Commissioner among others were present on the occasion. The ministry senior secretary Muhibul Haque said, due to aircraft shortage, once Biman had to shut its operation on various routes. Now, as we are adding new air carriers, we hope to open new routes at the earliest.
“The national flag carrier is now making profit. Today we resumed Manchester route, soon we will start operation on New York and Toronto route. As per Biman’s information, the Dhaka-Manchester route is the 17th route for Biman. The flight will operate on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday every week. This route will be used as the hub for further route expansion. It is hoped that a large number of expatriates, students and businessmen from different countries of Bangladesh and Europe, will be attracted to travel on these modern aircraft.
The maiden flight left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 12.55 pm with 269 passengers on board. Nearly about 90000 Bangladeshi Expatriates live in Manchester. It was their long-cherished demand to resume flight operation on this route. Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, that are operated on this route, has total 298 seats including 30 business classes, 21 premium economy classes, and 247 economy classes. It is to be noted, flight operations were temporarily shut down on the route since September 2012 due to aircraft crisis.
