The post Biman to reopen 2 international routes appeared first on Dhaka Mirror.
]]>‘The routes remained closed for a long time and we had been thinking how to make them profitable,’ struggling public carrier’s marketing and sales director Muhammad Shah Newaz told the news agency.
He hoped the new plans would prove beneficial for the flag carrier. Newaz said no decision had yet been made on the flight frequencies on the twin routes.
The Biman had suspended operations of 26 flights on 16 routes to meet the requirements of the last Hajj season. Flights to Hong Kong and Delhi were suspended as part of that exercise.
Aviation analysts say the new initiative would bring ‘mixed results’.
The Hong Kong route could be beneficial for the struggling airliner, but the Delhi route could prove ‘suicidal’.
‘There will be no problem in getting passengers for the Hong Kong route, given the buoyant manpower market there. The route is also beneficial since it is used to carry goods all around the year,’ aviation expert and
former member of Biman’s board of directors Kazi Wahedul Alam told the news agency.
However, he felt new aircraft would be needed to make the route profitable.
Wahedul said the maintenance cost of DC-10 aircraft was too high, and advised against operating them on this route.
He said the authorities should consider the matter seriously since three-fourths of the planes of the current fleet were not in very good shape.
The expert further said the Biman would not be benefited by operating only ‘point to point’ flights on the Delhi route.
He, instead, suggested operating connecting flights on the Delhi
route could be beneficial. ‘Otherwise, it would be somewhat like a suicidal decision,’ Wahedul warned.
He pointed out that the Biman had tried to
operate on the route in the past also, but failed to sustain.
-With New Age input
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]]>The post Biman flight schedule collapses appeared first on Dhaka Mirror.
]]>More than 1,000 passengers of Biman Bangladesh Airlines endured untold sufferings at Dhaka and Chittagong airports for several hours yesterday due to a flight schedule disaster of the national flag carrier.
Aggrieved passengers even vandalised a Biman counter at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong around 5:30pm after Biman delayed its flight to Abu Dhabi.
The flight was initially scheduled for 11:00am but Biman officials kept on delaying the flight. They did not even provide the passengers with lunch.
In Dhaka yesterday, Biman cancelled three scheduled flights–to London, Abu Dhabi and Sylhet–due to shortage of aircraft, according to the Biman Control Room.
The disarray was due to a leased Boeing 747, which can carry 505 passengers, leaving Biman’s service on September 12. The owning company of the plane pulled the aircraft out of Biman’s service, without telling Biman, eight days before the lease was to end.
Moreover, an airbus which was supposed to join the fleet on September 15 after overhauling in Singapore did not arrive, Biman sources said.
Biman sources said they had planned their flight schedule and sold tickets taking into account the two aircraft, which were not there.
Biman’s own four and a leased aircraft will mostly remain engaged in carrying hajj pilgrims from today.
On Saturday, some passengers, angered by a flight delay and lack of food and accommodation during the delays, vandalised Biman’s Chittagong office.
The national carrier cancelled its flight to Nepal too for which the Bangladesh national football team’s tour of Nepal was postponed by a day.
After around 24 hours delay, the flight to Kuwait left Shahjalal International Airport yesterday.
Passengers stuck at Dhaka and Chittagong airports yesterday said had Biman informed them of delays beforehand, they would not have suffered and waited at the airport.
They alleged that Biman authorities did not provide them with required assistance while they rescheduled or cancelled flights.
“I came to the airport around 8:00am for the Abu Dhabi flight. Biman officials delayed the flight several times and finally informed me about the cancellation,” Mohammad Nazrul told The Daily Star from Chittagong airport.
Overseas job seeker Nazrul in the afternoon said he did not have any lunch or ate anything since morning as he did not have enough money on him.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
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]]>The post Faulty seats of Palki being replaced appeared first on Dhaka Mirror.
]]>Faulty seats of Palki being replaced
The economy-class seats of Palki, Biman’s new Boeing 777-300ER that began commercial operation last month, are being replaced as their armrests started falling apart.
US company Weber had supplied the seats of the aircraft. It is now replacing the armrests in the economy class at its own cost during flight breaks at Shahjalal International Airport. The replacement will take a few more days.
Biman authorities said faulty design of the seats is causing the trouble. Sources said around 50 out of 384 seats in the economy class got broken. The seats in the business class are, however, in good shape.
Air Commodore (retd) Mohammad Zakiul Islam, managing director of Bangladesh Biman, told The Daily Star last week that the seats were procured following a meeting of Biman, Boeing and Weber.
Asked if the US company was selected arbitrarily to save money, he said, “There was no scope for buying the seats from a company which is not approved by Boeing.”
Meanwhile, some more complaints have also surfaced regarding the remote controls of movie screens and the galley of the $ 152 million aircraft. The Biman MD, however, refuted the complaints.
ARUN ALO
The other new Boeing 777-300ER named Arun Alo commenced its commercial flight on Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur course on December 5, almost 10 days after it had arrived in Shah Jalal airport.
Biman had to suffer a huge loss due to this wait as it could not get the go-ahead from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh. This is because Biman could not obtain the custom clearance certificate for its failure to pay the Tk 80 lakh duty.
Officials said the state-owned airlines needs to pay Tk 20 crore as instalment every month to repay the bank loan for Arun Alo.
-With The Daily Star input
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]]>The post Dollar bankrupts Sky Blues appeared first on Dhaka Mirror.
]]>Dollar obliterated the Sky Blues, who were poised for their tenth win during the Bogra encounter, before tail-ender Talha Jubair smashed Alauddin Babu for a six over mid-wicket to seal the victory.
Shoaib Malik also had an inspiring day, picking up a five-wicket haul in Mohammedan Sporting Club’s 104-run thrashing over Cricket Coaching School.
In the day’s other match, Gazi Tank eased past Old DOHS by eight wickets.
ABAHANI-BIMAN
Before Talha finished up the job, it was Dollar who made all the difference in a fine display of seam bowling as well as tail-end, Powerplay batting.Coming in at No 9 with Biman staring at certain defeat (109-7) chasing Abahani’s modest 191-run target, the big-hitting Dollar joined wicketkeeper Sajjad Kadir in the 32nd over.
The Abahani bowlers were doing a decent enough job but Dollar first decided to charge at left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib, twice hitting him for six over mid-on off consecutive balls. He also took sixes off Tapash Baisya and Alaudddin, hammering five in all during his 45-ball 54 that also had a boundary.
Dollar added 59 for the eighth wicket with Sajjad, who chipped in with 20 off 37 balls, but was dismissed just six runs short of the target. Talha, however, finished up the job with two sixes as Biman got their seventh win to move to fifth position with 14 points.
Earlier, Dollar bowled a lively spell to pick up three wickets for 29 from his ten overs as Abahani’s innings also had a similar pattern with the top-score coming from tail-ender Alauddin, who made 57 off 71 balls.
Apart from the half-century, the youngster also took four wickets for 35 games but ended up on the losing side.
MSC-CCS
It was a struggle for the Mohammedan top-order as only Khaled Mashud, opening the innings due to the absence of Tamim Iqbal, made a patient 54 off 81 balls at the BKSP.
The Motijheel outfit later found some important runs when Faisal Hossain hammered six boundaries and a six in his 68-ball 63, reaching a modest 220 in 49.1 overs. Suleiman Khan and Nazmul Hossain Milon took two wickets each.
But the modest total was enough for Mohammedan as the Mohammad Ashraful-less CCS capitulated in only 34.3 overs for 116 runs.
Malik’s off-spin ran through their batting order, after he picked up five wickets for 15 runs in 5.3 overs while Raihanuddin took two wickets.
The victory put Mohammedan just a point behind arch-rivals Abahani.
DOHS-GAZI TANK
At the Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi, Gazi Tank moved into third position in the points table, replacing Old DOHS, who lost the game by eight wickets.
Batting first, Old DOHS made only 166 runs in 47.4 overs with the Gazi Tank bowling attack holding sway through their discipline. Mohammad Azim, Sabbir Rahman and Sanjamul Islam took two wickets each while there was one each for Syed Rasel, Rasel Al Mamun, Nasir Hossain and Ali Azmat.
Mohammad Mithun, leading the side in absence of Shahriar Nafees, slammed 79 off 60 balls during the short chase with Aamir Sajjad also providing 51 off 57 balls.
BRIEF SCORES
ABAHANI: 190 all out in 49.4 overs (Alauddin 57, Ranjan 42; Dollar 3-29, Shariful 2-15).
BIMAN: 192-9 in 45.3 overs (Dollar 54, Avishek 42; Alauddin 4-35).
Result: Biman won by 1 wicket.
MSC: 220 all out in 49.1 overs (Mashud 54, Faisal 63; Nazmul 2-7, Suleiman 2-35).
CCS: 116 all out in 34.3 overs (Bashar 20; Malik 5-15).
Result: MSC won by 104 runs.
DOHS: 166 all out in 47.4 overs (Mehrab 40; Azim 2-22).
GAZI TANK: 169-2 in 25 overs (Mithun 79, Aamir 51 not out).
Result: Gazi Tank won by 8 wickets.
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]]>The post Hard-fought win for MSC appeared first on Dhaka Mirror.
]]>A brilliant all-round performance by Rajat Bhatia powered Abahani to a 39-run win over Prime Doleshwar at the Fatullah stadium while Kalabagan defeated Surjo Tarun by 80 runs at the BKSP.
The result means Abahani finished the first phase with 20 points from 11 matches, leading Mohammedan by three points.
Mohammedan v Biman
Biman missed the services of their prolific batsman Mushfiqur Rahim due to exam but were still able to put on a challenging 244-6 in their 50 overs thanks to half-centuries from Avishek Mitra and Pakistani Yasir Hameed, who made 52 and 54 runs respectively.
Opener Elias Sunny and two-down Jahirul Islam each made 47 runs for Biman.
Tamim Iqbal made 30 off 26 balls and Nazim Uddin added 48 from 47 balls to give Mohammedan a solid start, but a dramatic middle-order collapse almost took them to the brink of defeat.
Two high-profile batsmen, Shoaib Malik and skipper Sakib al Hasan, got out for 10 and 9 respectively, which triggered an angry reaction from Mohammedan supporters. They booed as he got out, though it did not change the situation.
Nafees Iqbal followed him two balls later as Mohammedan started wobbling losing six wickets for 106 runs inside 22 overs. Crisis man Faisal Hossain took the helm at this point and added 86 runs with Azhar Mahmood for the seventh wicket to bring them back in the game.
Mahmood made 53 off 73 balls and Faisal Hossain scored 41 off 52 before an unbeaten 37 off 35 balls by Muktar Ali took them to 245-8 with five balls left.
Abahani v Prime Doleshwar
Two half-centuries by the opener Imrul Kayes (82 off 100 balls) and Rajat Bhatia (90 off 96 balls) propelled Abahani to a respectable 248-9 and after his dazzling showing with the bat, Rajat also took 4-20, helping the side to dismiss Doleshwar for 209 runs.
Nazmul Hossain’s blistering 65 off 43 balls and Arman Hossain’s 61 in 92 balls were not enough to alter Doleshwar’s fate.
Kalabagan v Surjo Tarun
Opting to bat first, Kalabagan piled up a mammoth 257 runs for Surjo Tarun to chase. Roquibul Hassan scored 49 off 63, Wajid Ali and Nazmus Sadat added 45 and 38 respectively for Kalabagan.
Arafat Sunny picked up 4-32 for Kalabagan and Mahmudul Hassan’s 3-14 gave Surjo Tarun a nightmare start as they were bundled out for 177 runs.
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