Bangladesh Aviation Hub

25/11/2024

BIMAN TO HANDLE GROUND SERVICES AT TERMINAL 3 | The interim government has given Biman the opportunity to demonstrate its capability for a predefined time and under specific performance conditions, to handle ground services at the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for two years.

This decision comes following prolonged discussions during the previous administration, where the possibility of assigning the role to a Japanese firm was explored due to concerns raised by foreign airlines regarding the national carrier's service quality.

According to a Concession Agreement for Terminal 3, a Service Level Agreement (SLA) will be executed between Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd and the Private Sector Partner (PSP) where it will be mentioned that if Biman fails to meet the KPIs for ground handling for both passenger and cargo, based on the evaluation during these two years, the PSP will be allowed to appoint an internationally renowned foreign company as a second ground handler in addition to Biman.

What is your opinion on this matter? Do you agree that Biman should get the opportunity?

Notice the number of boarding bridges and the second phase?

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14/11/2024

| DC-10 AT CHATTOGRAM | The unique Orbis Flying Eye Hospital DC-10 (N330AU) landed at Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport today at 12:23PM after flying in from Angeles City in the Philippines. The Flying Eye Hospital provides training to doctors and nurses in developing countries and has classrooms and operating theatres onboard the DC-10.

She is a 52 year old bird originally delivered to Transamerica Airlines and then made its way to FedEx in 1984 after which in 2011 she was donated to Orbis International’s Flying Eye Hospital project. The cargo giant also provides training and logistical support to the pilots and operations.

© Photo: Fahim Rahman
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06/11/2024

| BOARDING BRIDGE COLLAPSE AT DHAKA | BREAKS OFF KUWAIT AIRWAYS DOOR | Late last night at around 02:20AM boarding bridge number 6 at Dhaka Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport collapsed while it was attached to door L1 of a Kuwait Airways 777-300ER (9K-AOJ) There are no injuries reported yet.

The Kuwait Airways 777-300ER operating flight KU283 landed at Dhaka at 01:29AM and was assigned to park at boarding bridge number 6. After all passengers got off the aircraft, the bridge suddenly collapsed downwards, taking with itself door L1. The boarding bridges at all airports in Bangladesh are operated and maintained by Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.

CAAB investigators are on site and assessing the situation, the return flight KU284 was cancelled.

© Photo: Rupol Nadim Rossy, Gazi Nibras
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03/11/2024

| FIRST SCHEDULED FLIGHT OF ETHIOPIAN LANDS AT DHAKA | Ethiopian Airlines' inaugural flight landed at Dhaka today. Flight ET678, operated by a Boeing 787-8 (ET-ATH) pictured here, touched down at 08:48AM direct from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

The airline will operate five direct flights weekly between Dhaka and Addis on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with evening flights on Mondays and Fridays.

This is the second African airline after Egypt Air offering flights between the two continents. Ethiopian has been a regular to Dhaka as it operates UN charter flights from Dhaka and they have plans for regular cargo flights too.

© Photo: Zuhair Ahmed
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02/11/2024

HAPPY BIRTHDAY | We at BAH would like to wish a very happy birthday to our very own Syed Amir Ahsan! And to celebrate, here is a shot taken by him of a Biman 787, S2-AJV at Suvarnabhumi Airport on a rainy evening! Posting it at 7:07PM, for his love of the quad jet!

© Photo: Syed Amir Ahsan
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14/10/2024

BIMAN APPOINTS CAPTAIN TASMIN DOZA AS DIRECTOR OF FLIGHT OPERATIONS | FIRST FEMALE TO HOLD THE POST | Biman Bangladesh Airlines appointed Captain Tasmin Doza as the Director of Flight Operations of the national airline.

Prior to her new role, Captain Doza served as Biman's Chief of Training. After joining Biman in the early 90's she was an instructor on the F-28, Fleet Chief and instructor on the Boeing-737 and an instructor of Boeing-787 Dreamliner.

We at BAH would like to congratulate Captain Doza on her new appointment!

© Photo: Karib Ahmed
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08/10/2024

NEW TOWER OF DHAKA AIRPORT ON PATH TO BE OPERATIONAL | The newly constructed tower facility of Dhaka Hazrat Shah Jalal international Airport is in the process of taking over from the old tower. Limited tower functionalities are being carried out for test purposes from there and as previously reported, personnel are being trained in France by Thales and not Colombo.

The new stunning building is beside the domestic terminal offering clear view of the new ramp of the still incomplete third terminal.

© Photo: Karib Ahmed
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Now we all can hear iskok fowantusi and seben seben a bit more clearly ;)

15/08/2024

AND | Notice anything different? Its across the whole fleet. Photo taken yesterday...

We will also try to get a copy of the cabin announcements if we can, there are a few changes there too.

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05/08/2024

05/08/2024

10/07/2024

| INAUGURAL AIR CHINA FLIGHT FROM BEIJING AT DHAKA | The first scheduled flight from Beijing, by Air China, landed at Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport- HSIA today at 08:50PM local time. The flight was operated by B-1393, a 2017 built Boeing 737 MAX 8.

Starting on 15 July, Southern Airlines will also begin operating on the same route.

© Photo: Raiyan Bin Noor
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03/07/2024

HAPPY BIRTHDAY | We at BAH would like to wish a very happy birthday to our very own Faisal 'Tripod' Akram Ether! And to celebrate, here again is one of his best shot, of a Biman DC-10, the last that was in passenger service, right after take-off from Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

06/04/2024

| US BANGLA'S SECOND A330 AT DHAKA | The second US-Bangla Airlines A330-300 (S2-ALB) is seen here being towed to the third terminal after arriving at Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport earlier in the morning today. She was ferried from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and landed at 05:32AM local time.

The airline plans to utilize the A330s on Dhaka-Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, London and Rome but for now it will fly between Dubai, Doha, Muscat and Kualalumpur.

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03/04/2024

STUCK BETWEEN JOURNALISTS AND A HARD PLACE | For the last few days, our inbox has been piling up with links of online news portals reporting that a Bangladesh Navy Dornier-228 got stuck under a pedestrian overpass in front of BAF Shaheen College while being transported from Tejgaon Airport. These outlets reported the chaos that followed on the roads and how the authorities had to clip the tail of the '-228' to pry it free.

Well, we would like to inform all, it wasn’t a real Do-228 but an almost 1:1 scale mockup, kept at the Navy Anchorage School and College in Khilkhet. Well, kudos to the craftsmen!

Note- Bangladesh Navy operates four Dornier 228s

© Photo: Bdnews24
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31/03/2024

| US BANGLA'S FIRST A330 CONDUCTS DEMO FLIGHT | The first US-Bangla Airlines A330-300 (S2-ALA) is seen here taxiing to runway 14 at Dhaka, her first take-off from the home base to the port city of Chattogram, with CAAB officials onboard, who will monitor the aircraft, crew and ground staff on their handling of the bird, a requirement before granting the airline permission to use the A330 to operate passenger flights.

This indicates that the US-Bangla Airlines is well on its way to operate scheduled flights with the A330!

© Photo: Mirza Muzahid
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27/03/2024

BIMAN AT ROME | Biman Bangladesh Airlines resumed its direct Dhaka-Rome flights today. A 787-8 (S2-AJT, The Hangsabalaka) performed the flight carrying passengers Dhaka to Rome and you can see her pictured here.

The national airline last operated charter flights on this route during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

© Photo: Syed Amir Ahsan
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05/03/2024

US BANGLA LAUNCHING FLIGHTS TO ABU DHABI FROM APRIL 19 |
US-Bangla Airlines is starting daily flights to Abu Dhabi from Dhaka and Chattogram from April 19, 2024.

BS349 will depart Dhaka at 05:50PM and arrive at Abu-Dhabi at 09:10PM on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
From Chattogram, the flight will depart at 03:55pm and arrive at 09:10pm at Abu-Dhabi on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday.

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04/03/2024

52 YEARS | ON THIS DAY IN 1972 BIMAN OPERATED ITS FIRST INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT | Biman Bangladesh Airlines, operated its first ever international flight with a chartered Boeing 707 to London.

Though many say it was an aircraft leased from British Caledonian, we here at BAH believe it was operated by Donaldson International Airlines, a British charter airline formed in 1968 and which was later bought by British Caledonian in 1974. The aircraft was G-AYXR, a 707-321(F) which is seen here at Toronto Pearson International Airport in July 1971.

The once weekly flight originated from London, so the routing was London-Dhaka-London and the aircraft was based at Heathrow Airport. The crew on those flights were British and maintenance was performed by Donaldson and the British Government even waived off landing, navigation and other airport charges for those flights, to help the newly formed national airline keep its ticket prices down.

Now Biman operates this route with their own Boeing 787s, its own pilots, its own cabin crew and the aircraft is maintained by Biman's own engineers, we did come a long way!

© Photo: Thomas Kim
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