Biman Bangladesh Airlines is looking for a Crew Maintenance and Insurance (CMI) partner to resume its New York flights.
But aviation experts think this step will financially damage the national flag carrier.
Biman Managing Director Kevin Steele told bdnews24.com: “We have issued an RFP (Request for Proposal) for a CMI (in which case we can use our own B777-300ER aircraft) and an ACMI (which would include aircraft leased by EgyptAir and others as well).”
But he did not want to divulge the details.
“I am afraid it is a little early for me to comment on this. Those RFPs don’t close until Mar 19, so I can’t really comment until then,” he said.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with the US government on Aug 17 last year to resume operation on this route. But Bangladesh needs to be qualified as category 1 country by Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of the US before starting the New York flights.
Any aircraft registered in Bangladesh cannot fly to the US as the country is now rated category 2 according to FAA ratings.
Bangladesh, however, can operate on this route by leasing an aircraft on wet lease from a category 1 country. It can also use its own aircraft by taking a CMI partner from a category 1 country.
Biman has already planned to resume operation on this route from June 4.
A senior Biman official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Biman faced a problem when it tried to hire two aircrafts from EgyptAir on wet lease. So the Board of Directors has decided to resume the New York flights with own aircrafts taking a CMI partner.”
However, a former member of the Board of Directors, Kazi Wahedul Alam cautioned that this initiative would cause a huge financial loss for Biman.
“Biman has enough skilled manpower to operate Boeing 777 aircrafts. This manpower will become a burden if Biman takes a CMI partner. On the other hand, Biman will also have to invest a lot of money in its CMI partner.”
Alam said, “New York route was a loss project for Biman. So they will have to be very strategic to get a place in the market. Biman (inevitably) will incur financial loss if they operate on this route with a CMI partner.”
However, Kevin Steele did not want to comment on this issue before Mar 19.
Biman now owns three Boeing 777 aircrafts, which are very suitable to fly long routes, officials said. They said another Boeing 777 aircraft would be added to the fleet soon.
Biman started its New York flights in 1993 via Amsterdam. Later, the route was changed via Dubai and Brussels which led Biman to face a loss of Tk 3.5 million per flight.
The national flag carrier decreased its flight frequency from three to one in 2006 in a bid to reduce the losses. Then the route was closed from July 29 same year.
Source: bdnews24