Biman Bangladesh Airlines:Your thoughts and experience

[sunny747]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_8lm5A850U

[ammark]

Great video... and utmost respect to the cockpit crew.

But, the airline needs some SERIOUS management overhaul. bangladesh government should corporotise the airline and divest from it. It is an IMMENSE drain on the national budget, especially given all the corrupt administrative sections in the airline. It is continuously defaulting on its fuel and maintenance bills, it is usually coming up as being near-blacklisted by the European Civil Aviation authority reviews....

Its just a white elephant for our government, and would do much better under private ownership, management and restructuring.

[al Furqaan]

they need to modernize their fleet...they lose something like 50K USD on each DC-10 flight due to fuel efficiency alone.

[Hatebreed]

Who would record a Biman DC-10 in Manchester? Must be its rare antique beauty lol.

[ialbd]

Tower:Bangladesh 065.... tomar chakka khuila jaitese ...Over
Cockpit: Eita kono bepar na ... Over

hehe.. jotoi joke kori, the level of competency our pilots have is just mind blowing. Their control over these 40 year old contraptions are really noteworthy. Dont see any chance of this fleet getting revamped anytime soon, instead Biman is cutting short their schedules/routes to keep up with the diminishing fleet. Why would a country buy Mig-29 when their national carrier barely qualifies as an airline. dukkho.... dukkho.....

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by ialbd
Tower:Bangladesh 065.... tomar chakka khuila jaitese ...Over
Cockpit: Eita kono bepar na ... Over

ROFLMAO...

too funny...you should be banned for a week, bhai.

[sunny747]

Biman has exquisite logo and color......if proper management Biman would have gone really far.........my experience with biman has been always good......i try to travel by biman all the time...i just feel home.

[Spitfire_x86]

Few months ago I flew back from Koltkata to Dhaka by Biman. It was a rubbish F28 aircraft, the flight was delayed by half an hour after we boarded the place because the AC wasn't working! At last we had to take off without the AC working properly. The food was below par quality and cold.

7 days before that I went to Delhi from Dhaka by Indian Airlines. The difference between two felt "akash-patal"

[PoorFan]

Don't even dare to talk about Biman's flight service quality, crew, management and it's legendary old aircraft. Any 20 years old Japanese car might be better comfortable than F28 aircraft, only difference is that car cant fly.

Bangladesh Biman needs TOTAL reformation.

[Alien]

Problem is no one wants to fly to BD other than expats living overseas like us. Our country is located with hot spots for tourism like Bali, Phuket, Nepal, Taj Mahal are. Not only that we cant compete with these places, we have a lousy tourism infrastructure.

All these have negative impact on Biman. People would rather fly foreign airlines than Biman given the superior service and less hassle with delays etc.

IMO, Biman is better off to save money for a long time and buy a fuel efficient new plane (if not brand new) rather than old junk from other airlines. In that way, they can cut on their biggest expenses which is maintenance.

Another factor is corruption. With ACC purging the government, if they do a sweep on Biman as well and remove the corrupt elements within, then hopefully that will spare the airline from bankruptcy near future.

I doubt how much of the profit of Biman (if they make any in first place) goes back into improving the airline.

[Miraz]

Goo video. I am embedding it here for viewer's convenience

[Rabz]

Originally Posted by ialbd
Tower:Bangladesh 065.... tomar chakka khuila jaitese ...Over
Cockpit: Eita kono bepar na ... Over

[Kabir]

I'm horrible with British accent, so kisui bujhlam na. Amar ghum ghum chokh may have played a role in it. But ekta jinish bujhlam, ialbd besh michka ase...WC Montreal tour e kaaje lagbay.

Tower:Bangladesh 065.... tomar chakka khuila jaitese ...Over
Cockpit: Eita kono bepar na ... Over

[Tigers_eye]

Video'r prothom ordhek dhektey dekhtey mon'ta udas hoiye gasilo. Buker bhitor kosto lagchilo. Smooth as silk take off dhekey mon'ta shanti holo. Ar ialbd'r comment poray chok diye pani ber hoiye galo chastey chastey!!

[Hatebreed]

অন্ন সব উড়োজাহাজ দেখি কত্ত জোরে দোউরায়, কিন্তু আমাগো বিমান অলসের মত গরায়তে গরায়তে একটা লাপ মাইরায় কি সুন্দর উরান দিল!

[al Furqaan]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Video'r prothom ordhek dhektey dekhtey mon'ta udas hoiye gasilo. Buker bhitor kosto lagchilo. Smooth as silk take off dhekey mon'ta shanti holo. Ar ialbd'r comment poray chok diye pani ber hoiye galo chastey chastey!!

seriously, i think that comment by ialbd was the funniest thing i've EVER read on BC...and i've been here over 3 years.

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
seriously, i think that comment by ialbd was the funniest thing i've EVER read on BC...

Completely my thoughts. Ialbd besh michka ase...Montreal trip er shomoy kaaje dibe

[adel]

ialbd....tomar comment ki joss...
so damn funny!!!!!!!!!

[Mav]

I flew Biman many times. My experience inside the airline was world class.
The service , food and facilities were great.

Only this that i had to suffer few times was the schedule. 1 hour later quite often. 7-8 hours late few times - This schedule is what made the reputation go zero for Biman.

[sunny747]

Biman going to have some significant change in July. They will curtail 1800 employees out of 4500 by golden handshake. They will change the name to Bangladesh Airlines, it will be no more Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Their stocks will be out soon after they declare it public limited.
Source: Biman staff. (above info is still under consideration)

[Sohel]

let's see, the last time was 1987, from dubai to dhaka ... never again until they privatize the company.

[Alien]

One of my mother's friend lost her job because of the cutting down.

Are they getting more planes? They should start revamping the fleet as soon as the company starts to generate profit (probably the first time). With so much competition around especially given the fact that most of the world's top airlines are situated just nearby (notably Thai, Singapore, Malaysian, Dragon plus giants like Cathy and Emirates), it will be tough with the competition and rising fuel prices.

But the latest move will bring tonnes of improvement given how the airline survived 30 years of corruption.

[zahid]

The other aircrafts were zooming by while the pane in the video was sitting like a lazy donkey!

Since my Dad works in the Ministry, we have to take Biman home every 6 years.

Last time I was on Biman was 6 years ago. Let me tell my experience :

Cabin crew - some of the females are fat ( like elephants! ) or are ugly ( like Kajer Bua )

Food - Plenty of snacks BUT main food was Shada tely bhaja bhat + mild OK chicken curry

Service - Headphones didn't work / connector at seat didn't work when they were showing Jumanji.

Overall comment - 3/10

[GoldenAsif]

Air Arabia to launch service to Bangladesh
Air Arabia, the first low-cost carrier in the Middle East and North Africa, announced today that it will begin twice-weekly flights between Sharjah, UAE, and Chittagong, Bangladesh, starting June 18.
United Arab Emirates: 10 hours, 45 minutes ago PRESS RELEASE



Kyle Haywood, Commercial Director, Air Arabia.


Air Arabia's direct flights to Chittagong, the second-largest city in Bangladesh, will mark the inauguration of the Sharjah-based carrier's service to the country.

Kyle Haywood, Commercial Director, Air Arabia, said: 'We are extremely pleased to announce the launch of Air Arabia flights to Chittagong, which will provide comfortable and competitively priced service for both the expatriate Bangladeshi population in the UAE and the Bangladeshi community seeking to visit this booming Gulf Arab state.'

He continued: 'With a population of nearly 4 million and as the country's primary seaport, Chittagong is the commercial and manufacturing capital of Bangladesh. Nearly all imports and exports flow through the city, as do most investors looking to establish operations in the country. Air Arabia is delighted to demonstrate its continued commitment to regional low-cost travel by launching services to this increasingly important South Asian state.'
The frequency of flights to Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong is twice-weekly, on Mondays and Fridays. Air Arabia flights will depart from Sharjah at 7:15AM and arrive in Chittagong at 13:50PM local time. On the same days, flights will depart from Chittagong at 14:35PM and arrive in Sharjah at 17:30PM local time.

Chittagong is the 36th destination for the Sharjah-based carrier. Current Air Arabia destinations include: Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia (Syria); Alexandria, Assiut and Luxor (Egypt); Amman (Jordan); Astana and Almaty (Kazakhstan); Bahrain; Beirut (Lebanon); Colombo (Sri Lanka); Dammam, Jeddah and Riyadh (KSA), Doha (Qatar); Istanbul (Turkey); Kabul (Afghanistan); Kathmandu (Nepal); Khartoum (Sudan); Kuwait; Chennai, Jaipur, Kochi, Mumbai, Nagpur and Thiruvananthapuram (India); Muscat (Oman); Sana'a (Yemen); Sharjah (UAE); Tehran (Iran),Yerevan (Armenia), Karachi and Peshawar (Pakistan).

http://www.ameinfo.com/122971.html

[GoldenAsif]

I was pleasantly surprised when I flew on Biman, because they made du'a before the flight. Great stuff!!