Biman\\\'s domestic flights cannot take off in Jan as planned

Biman's efforts to regain its lost domestic passenger market through resuming its local flights next month have suffered a setback as it could not yet sign the necessary deal with the Egyptian aircraft supplier company. ‘The plan to resume Biman’s domestic flights won’t be possible from January 2014 as the agreement with Egyptian Smart Aviation for a pair of Dash 8-Q400s aircraft is yet to be inked,’ AM Mosaddique Ahmed, a director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, now serving as acting managing director and CEO of the national flag carrier. He said the representatives of the Smart Aviation were scheduled to sign the deal in October but they could not. ‘They are scheduled to visit Bangladesh and sign the deal.’ The aircraft are supposed to be taken on dry lease basis for five years, Mosaddique said. A dry lease is an arrangement whereby an aircraft financing entity (leaser) provides an aircraft without insurance, crew, ground staff, supporting equipment and maintenance. ‘We had a plan to resume the flights early next month, but now it seems that it’s not possible now, we need more time,’ he added. This was Biman’s 7th attempt to collect turboprop aircraft for resuming flights on its domestic routes along with some other regional ones. Currently, it has no small aircraft to carry passengers on domestic routes, according to a news agency.