Biman Bangladesh Airlines is going to operate stopover flights from Dhaka to Toronto, mainly for refueling during its around 16-hour one-way travel, but it will operate non-stop direct flights on the way back from Toronto to Dhaka.
Biman managing director and chief executive officer Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal told New Age on Sunday that they had declared to operate direct flights on the Dhaka–Toronto route and they would do so, but one would be non-stop and another stopover.
In aviation terms, a direct flight is any flight between two points by an airline with no change in flight numbers, which may include stops at intermediate points and it may be stopover or non-stop.
‘We are considering stopover flights for both technical and commercial reasons,’ he said.
He said that the technical reason was that the national flag carrier would be refueled at any airport in the Middle East or Europe.
The Biman chief said that primarily, they were considering a stopover in Germany or any other European country or in the Uzbek capital city of Tashkent.
‘We are yet to decide whether we will resort to both the fifth freedom and the sixth freedom or not,’ he said.
The fifth freedom allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline’s own country. It is the right to carry passengers from one’s own country to a second country, and from that country onward to a third country and so on.
The fifth freedom traffic rights are intended to enhance the economic viability of an airline’s long haul routes, but tend to be viewed by local airlines and governments as potentially unfair competition.
A technical committee is evaluating the opportunities, he said.
‘We want a good start of the regular flights by June,’ he said.
Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal said that people living in Canada would go for a long vacation from June 26. Biman is trying to catch the high chance of passengers at the very beginning, he added.
On March 24 this year, state minister for civil aviation Md Mahbub Ali declared an experimental commercial flight on the Dhaka–Toronto route for the first time.
On March 26, Biman operated the first ‘experimental commercial’ flight on the route with 35 to 40 government employees and two lawmakers by expending public money.
After starting regular operation, Biman will operate the 16-hour-long three flights with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the route in a week.
Mahbub said that the direct flight would be helpful for 10 lakh Bangladeshi expatriates in Canada and it would ensure rapid transportation of Bangladeshi export goods.
– With New Age input
