Biman to resume domestic routes

The country's national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines is going to sign a deal with Egypt Air to hire two Dash-8 aircraft on dry lease soon.  
A top Biman official requesting anonymity told bdnews24.com: "The agreement to lease two turbo propeller aircraft could be signed within a few days. We have to wait for a month for all the formalities to be done. We cannot start our domestic routes from January but hope to start from February."
"We can resume our domestic destinations soon after these two aircraft are added to the fleet."
The Biman will also resume Dhaka-Yangon and Chittagong-Kolkata routes with these Dash-8 aircraft, the official said.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Muhammad Faruk Khan at a meeting on August 25 asked the Biman management to start operating domestic flights in two months.
The Biman had so far failed to get response to its global tenders for two turbo-propeller planes even after organising them five times.
According to Biman officials, 45 to 50-seat turbo propeller aircraft are commercially more viable than any other planes as their fuel and maintenance costs are low.
The airline's former managing director Kevin Steele in November last year had announced plans to re-launch its domestic flights, but failed.