Biman Bangladesh Airlines is going to resume its flights to New York from June 12, a high official of the national flag carrier said last night.
A source in Biman’s marketing division told the Dhaka Tribune that the airline would start selling tickets for New York flights from January 31.
The Biman New York flights were grounded in 2006.
Initially, there will be two flights a week – one leaving Dhaka for the US city at 2pm and the other leaving New York for Dhaka at 4pm local time.
Biman, however, could not yet confirm the days of the flights.
“We have initially confirmed about the date [of resuming the flights] and we are planning measures to meet that target,” Khan Mosharaf Hosen, general manager for Biman’s public relations, said.
Resuming Biman flights to New York was an election pledge of the Awami League and although it tried hard in the past couple of years, it failed.
A Biman source said they had received nods for the two flights from the New York safety agency and the US Department of Transportation, and Biman’s next steps now depended on the availability of passengers.
“Although we have some technical challenges, we are ready and have already leased two Boeing aircraft from Egypt Airlines,” a high official said.
Biman, now a losing concern, recently requested the government to allow it a commercial borrowing of $200m to help overcome the financial crisis before the fleet lands.