Strong efforts are underway to regain and resume flight operation of Biman Bangladesh Airlines between Guangzhou international Airport and Dhaka airport.
Such measures are being exercised following the cancellation of Biman’s slots (flight landing permission) from Chinese airports to operate flights to Guangzhou. This happened within six months after the inauguration of Biman’s flight operation there.
However, no other airline’s slot was cancelled by Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. About the flight slot cancellation, the authorities concerned have informed that efforts are underway to regain the slots at Guangzhou to resume Biman’s flight operation.
Biman Managing Director and CEO MdShafiul Azim told media that they have written to the civil aviation authority to restore the slot. They are also communicating with foreign ministry in this regard.
It was learned that Biman, back in February, had applied for a summer slot which starts from April and continues till October. But Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport did not allocate any slots in favor of Biman. As a result, Biman’s Guangzhou flight operation was suspended from March.
Slots or Air frequency under the Air Service Agreement typically refers to the number of times an aircraft or airline operates a specific flight route within a given time period. It represents the frequency at which flights are scheduled to depart and arrive at a particular destination.
According to an aviation source, if an airline fails to adhere to the rules and conditions associated with its allocated slots, the civil aviation authority or airport authority may cancel those slots. This could happen if an airline consistently misses its allocated slots, operates flights at a significantly reduced frequency, or fails to meet other obligations related to slot usage.
“Slot cancellations are intended to ensure fair distribution of airport resources and to prevent airlines from hoarding unused slots. By canceling slots for non-compliant airlines, authorities can reassign those slots to other airlines that are better able to utilize them effectively,” he added.
According to a recent report that was submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee in December, Biman flights from Dhaka to China’s Guangzhou route had 2,675 vacant seats from July to December. There were 1,037 passengers on board. The remaining 1,638 seats were empty, indicating that 61 percent of the seats at this location were empty.
At present, US Bangla Airlines of Bangladesh and China Southern Airlines of China directly carry passengers from Dhaka to Guangzhou. Besides, China Eastern from Dhaka via Kunming, Sri Lankan Airlines via Colombo, Singapore Airlines via Singapore, Malaysian Airlines carry passengers to Guangzhou via Malaysia from Bangladesh.
