The national carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, on May 18, announced the suspension of its Dhaka–Narita route, effective July 1, near more than a year after the much-hyped relaunch in September 2023.
Officially, Biman has cited three reasons: the ongoing Hajj season, an aircraft shortage, and unsustainable financial losses.
But the story runs deeper. Since resuming the route, Biman has racked up losses exceeding Tk80 crore, with monthly deficits hovering around Tk4 crore.
On most flights, nearly half of the 271 seats on its Boeing 787-800s went unsold—numbers that made continued operations difficult to justify.
The Narita route has a troubled history. First launched in 1979, it has been suspended multiple times, including in 1981 and most recently in 2006, due to unprofitability.
The 2023 resumption, insiders admit, lacked rigorous commercial analysis. According to sources within Biman, key decisions were driven more by political and diplomatic considerations than market realities.
At the time, Biman was entangled in the geopolitical push-and-pull between Boeing and Airbus, with Airbus lobbying for a foothold in Biman’s fleet.
Backed by then-PM industrial adviser Salman F Rahman, the carrier launched long-haul destinations like Narita, Rome, and Toronto—routes many now acknowledge were opened to justify new aircraft purchases, not to serve passenger demand.
However, several Biman officials wishing anonymity alleged then-MD and CEO Shafiul Azim and then GM (marketing) Salauddin Ahmed, without feasibility studies. Azim also reopened the unprofitable Dhaka-Rome route.
By aggressively promoting Airbus purchases and new routes to the media, he garnered favor with ousted prime minister’s adviser Salman F Rahman and the government, reportedly securing a secretary role despite Biman’s losses. Later, Azim got a promotion as a secretary at the Election Commission.
Critics alleged these moves prioritized political gains over commercial viability, reviving a loss-making route after 17 years to showcase personal achievement.
Former Biman MD Shafiul Azim, now an OSD after a brief stint as EC secretary, defends the decision.
To Dhaka Tribune, on Monday, he claims the Narita route was part of a broader strategy that included code-sharing arrangements with Japanese and Canadian carriers to connect to Los Angeles and Vancouver.
But with low cabin factors—an industry term for passenger occupancy—the plan never gained altitude.
On August 23, 2023, the admission by former Biman MD Shafiul Azim that no feasibility study was conducted before launching the Dhaka–Narita route starkly illustrates the cavalier decision-making at the heart of Biman’s operations.
As of now, Biman remains the sole provider of direct Dhaka–Narita flights, while 8 other airlines serve the route through connecting services.
All other 8 carriers—Malaysian Airlines (MH), Singapore Airlines (SQ), Cathay Pacific (CX), Turkish Airlines (TG), China Southern Airlines (CZ), and SriLankan Airlines (UL)—offered connecting or transit flights.
Yet, despite this competitive advantage, Biman’s fares were significantly lower than those of its connecting-flight competitors.
While Biman charged an average fare of $291.50, other airlines charged around $683 for the same route with stopovers.
Despite holding a 79% passenger market share—transporting the vast majority of travellers—Biman captured only 67% of the route’s revenue share, resulting in a revenue loss of 12% deficit, purely due to lower fare pricing, according to Biman marketing department report.
However, if Biman had set its fare equal to those of the connecting and transit flights ($683), it could have earned an additional revenue but without a feasible study and unplanned business policy, Biman now forced to ground the flight on the Dhaka-Narita route, as marked Marketing department in their internal report.
