Due to some lease complication, Biman Bangladesh Airlines is going to delay resumption of its New York flights which were supposed to start from next June.
Kevin Steele, MD of the Airlines, had declared at a press briefing on Monday that twice-weekly flights from Dhaka-Birmingham-New York would start from June 4.
“We are planning to start sale of tickets for our New York flights sometimes during the first half of February.”
Biman is planning to take on lease two Boeing 777-200 ER aircrafts from Egypt Air to start the New York flights, he had said.
However, Steele on Tuesday told bdnews24.com: “The Biman Board has asked for more clarification on the lease agreement….So have not approved or rejected it. We are still looking to operate from June, although the ‘on-sale date’, may be delayed.”
But a Biman Board member requesting anonymity told bdnews24.com, “Board did not approve the proposal, so the flights will be delayed.”
He said, “Bangladesh so far did not get FAA category 1 approval. So any aircraft from this country will not get entry to USA.”
“Biman is going to hire aircrafts on dry lease. So these aircrafts will also not get US approval” he said.
Biman has been asked to re-process the lease procedure. That mean, Biman has to start from the beginning.
There are two types of lease systems in Aviation business. Dry lease is usually taken for long term, the maintenance are done by the rent receiver.
On the other hand, Wet lease is taken for short term and the maintenance are sender’s responsibility.
If Biman hire the aircrafts on wet lease, those will be registered to Egypt. As Egypt has category 1 approval from FAA it has no barrier to enter in USA.
Director of Flight Safety and Regulations Department at Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB), SM Nazmul Anam told bdnews24.com: “There will be no problem to start the flights if Biman gets the aircraft on wet lease.”
“But it won’t be possible if it is taken on dry lease.”
“Bangladesh will be able to begin the flights by leasing the aircraft from Egypt as the country is rated Category-1.”
Biman had stopped flying to New York after Bangladesh was banned by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of US in 1996.
A country must have a Category-1 rating from the FAA if it intends to conducts flights to the US.
Security is usually their top priority.
On Aug 17 last year, Bangladesh signed an open sky agreement with the United States to resume flights to New York.
Source: Bd news24