The national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines has decided to operate this year’s Hajj flights under its management, moving away from a plan to finalise a wet-lease agreement with the Lithuania-based Heston Airlines amid alleged irregularities in the process.
Three Boeing 777 aircraft that operate on the Doha, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait routes will be used for the special Hajj flights on the Dhaka-Jeddah-Dhaka route. The flights may begin on May 31, according to Biman sources.
The Biman decision was reached at an internal meeting on Monday, after a series of meetings during the last two days on whether to sign an agreement with Heston Airlines on wet-leasing a pair of 266-seat Airbus A330s, or to operate its aircraft from other routes to cover its charter requirements.
The Biman authorities will send a proposal incorporating their recommendations to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, as sought by the junior minister, on how to adjust the flight capacity of the Biman aircraft during the Hajj flights and generate revenue.
The government has directed Biman to provide a comprehensive report on how it can operate the Hajj flights smoothly.
Contacted by Dhaka Tribune, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali confirmed that Biman would carry pilgrims through 75 dedicated trips by the three Boeing 777s this year, and “this is final”.
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Mahbub Ali said he had asked the Biman officials to ensure that passengers who had already booked tickets on the three routes did not feel harassed or that the flight schedules did not get disrupted.
“In this case, Biman can assess and go for a lease agreement, if needed,” the state minister added.
A total of 57,585 Bangladeshis can perform the Hajj this year. Biman will carry 31,000 pilgrims on 75 dedicated flights, while the rest will fly by Saudia.
No pilgrims were allowed to go to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj and Umrah in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year, the Saudi government has opened its doors to one million pilgrims.
Biman spokesperson Tahera Khondokar told Dhaka Tribune that the regular flights between Dhaka and Jeddah would be operated based on the approval of the Saudi Arabian government.
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At a high-level meeting on Sunday, the junior minister opposed the wet-leasing of any aircraft as the Saudi Arabian authorities would not allow leased aircraft to operate Hajj flights as per their policy.
Mahbub Ali then directed senior Biman officials to study the situation and file a report, the deadline for which was Monday.
The move came following a Dhaka Tribune report that revealed that the national flag carrier was at risk of incurring a loss of about Tk200 crore if it went through with the plan of leasing aircraft.
Sources said the pair of 266-seat Airbus A330s of Heston Airlines were around 13-year-old cargo planes.
Heston is a Lithuanian-based charter and wet-lease operator launched in April 2021. The two Airbus A330s were hired from the Irish lessor Genesis.
The meeting also noted that the two aircraft were not yet ready to carry passengers and it would be a risk to finalise the deal with Heston.
Amid controversies, Biman Director (Corporate Planning and Training) Mahbub Jahan Khan spoke in favor of Heston airlines at the meetings to get the lease agreement finalized with Heston, according to Biman board sources.
Last month, he submitted the lease proposal under ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance) system to operate the Hajj flights. But the proposal was rejected due to the lack of a fruitful study and analysis. However, he again submitted the proposal to the board, ignoring proposals from 11 airlines.