After 17 years Biman Bangladesh Airlines resumes its route between Narita and Dhaka.
As part of the offering Biman are intending to do all they can to make the route attractive to passengers.
Sympathetic timings, and generous allowances for baggage are just some of the incentives at this stage.
Shafiul Azim, Managing Director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh has given this following quote:
“Dhaka-Narita could be a promising route for Biman Bangladesh Airlines as we are expecting passengers from our neighbouring countries travellers apart from the local passengers.”
“Besides, currently many Japanese companies have been extending their business here while numbers of Bangladeshi students are enrolling in different Japanese universities,” he said.
Convenient timing and competitive positioning
The markets from Nepal and Kolkata are in the sights of the Bangladeshi airline particularly.
“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 in only six hours,” Mr Shafiul Azim added.
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The flights on this route will depart from Dhaka every Friday, Monday and Wednesday. Leaving Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11:45 pm local time.
The return legs from Narita International Airport will leave every Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday. Timing for the Japan-Bangladesh leg will be 1100 local departure.
Fleet expansion to follow?
Biman has a fleet which currently includes four Boeing 787-8’s, and two Boeing 787-9’s. The 787’s will be the staple on this route. The airline is also currently in talks with Airbus to purchase 10 new aircraft which would undoubtedly prove popular on routes like this when they come in.
It’s expected that 10 Airbus A350’s will be on the order books for delivery to Biman in the coming years. This breaks the Boeing only monopoly on Biman’s widebodies.
The airline started in 1972 with a single Douglas DC3 they currently pride themselves on having “The youngest fleet in South Asia“
A gateway in Japan
There’s clear indications that Biman are looking at this new route very much as a gateway for expansion.
Shafiul Azim said, “The national flag carrier is planning to carry its passengers to Australia, the west coast of the United States and Canada, with the help of other carriers via Japan through code sharing.”
“We are exploring with other airlines interlinking or code sharing so that we can offer our passengers different routes beyond Japan like a 360-degree airline,” Azim added.
With code sharing agreements in the negotiation stage, we anticipated that Biman are looking to partner with several airlines. Japan Airlines Ltd (JAL), Air Canada and All Nippon Airways are expected to be potential partners in the near future.
The new route has been opened with a ceremony in Dhaka, attended by representatives from Biman’s board of directors. Furthermore members of the Prime Ministers office and Civil Aviation Authority attended.
The carrier now flies non-stop to 21 destinations worldwide including Britain, Malaysia, Thailand and Canada.
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