Biman passengers facing regular flight cancellation, delay
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Mashiur Rahaman
State-run Biman's passengers of almost every scheduled international flight are suffering from chronic flight cancellation and delay for over a week, passengers complained Wednesday.
Following a controversial operation-cancellation of leased Boeing 747-200 aircraft last month, the national flag carrier is forced to manage its scheduled flights with delay or cancellation, Biman officials acknowledged.
"We planned to overcome the B747's elimination by operating our four DC-10-30's but one of the old aircraft had gone out of service due to technical problem within days of its operation," an official from the operation department of Biman told the FE.
Leased from Nigerian Kabo Air, the 450-seater aircraft was operated by Biman on its passenger-intensive Riyadh and Jeddah routes and it operated five flights per week. Biman is now trying to readjust the route operating its DC-10s and Airbus-310s.
"It is no wonder that our efforts to cope with the B747's exit by operating the existing aircraft are causing a series of flight disruption in the schedule," the Biman official said requesting anonymity.
"To turn the ordeal even worst, one of our Boeing 737-800 out of two was sent to Singapore on July 12 for cabin modification for eight days," the official added.
Besides that Biman's leased Boeing 777-200ER aircraft has also gone to Singapore for scheduled maintenance work for two days, making the Biman's flight schedule maintenance most difficult at present, he said further.
According to Biman's flight operation department, scheduled flight BG086 to Malaysia was due with B777-200ER but it was later managed with Airbus-310 following a couple of hours delay. The abrupt change left Biman's BG084 flight to Singapore uncertain as it was scheduled with Airbus-310.
Similarly, the scenario was reported to be same in almost all scheduled flights to passenger intensive Middle-Eastern and Asian destinations, keeping passengers stranded for hours in airports at home and abroad.
The state-run Biman operates four DC-10-30s, three Airbus-310s, two 737-800s and a wide-body 777-200ER to maintain its 19 international destinations. It also operates three domestic flights, operating with the lone functioning F28 aircraft.
State-run Biman's passengers of almost every scheduled international flight are suffering from chronic flight cancellation and delay for over a week, passengers complained Wednesday.
Following a controversial operation-cancellation of leased Boeing 747-200 aircraft last month, the national flag carrier is forced to manage its scheduled flights with delay or cancellation, Biman officials acknowledged.
"We planned to overcome the B747's elimination by operating our four DC-10-30's but one of the old aircraft had gone out of service due to technical problem within days of its operation," an official from the operation department of Biman told the FE.
Leased from Nigerian Kabo Air, the 450-seater aircraft was operated by Biman on its passenger-intensive Riyadh and Jeddah routes and it operated five flights per week. Biman is now trying to readjust the route operating its DC-10s and Airbus-310s.
"It is no wonder that our efforts to cope with the B747's exit by operating the existing aircraft are causing a series of flight disruption in the schedule," the Biman official said requesting anonymity.
"To turn the ordeal even worst, one of our Boeing 737-800 out of two was sent to Singapore on July 12 for cabin modification for eight days," the official added.
Besides that Biman's leased Boeing 777-200ER aircraft has also gone to Singapore for scheduled maintenance work for two days, making the Biman's flight schedule maintenance most difficult at present, he said further.
According to Biman's flight operation department, scheduled flight BG086 to Malaysia was due with B777-200ER but it was later managed with Airbus-310 following a couple of hours delay. The abrupt change left Biman's BG084 flight to Singapore uncertain as it was scheduled with Airbus-310.
Similarly, the scenario was reported to be same in almost all scheduled flights to passenger intensive Middle-Eastern and Asian destinations, keeping passengers stranded for hours in airports at home and abroad.
The state-run Biman operates four DC-10-30s, three Airbus-310s, two 737-800s and a wide-body 777-200ER to maintain its 19 international destinations. It also operates three domestic flights, operating with the lone functioning F28 aircraft.