'Unwise' route selection causes Biman to pay addl $40,000 per Dhaka-London flight
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Mashiur Rahaman
The state-run Biman has to pay an additional amount of US$40,000 per Dhaka-London-Dhaka flight due to unwise selection of 'southern route' instead of preferred 'northern route', a Biman high up has told the FE.
"The comparatively lengthy southern route - via Middle-East and North-Africa - takes about three hours of extra flight time per trip, causing an extra payment of $20,000 to the aircraft leasing company," the Biman official explained.
Additionally, the extra flight time burns 10 tonnes of fuel worth $16,000, and Biman also incurs a loss of five tonnes of additional pay-load per return flight on this route, the official added requesting anonymity.
Biman now operates five Dhaka-London-Dhaka flights per week, three of them with Boeing 777-200ER and two with Airbus A310-300. It took the wide-body Boeing 777-200ER on wet-lease from Lisbon-based Euro Atlantic Airways against $5,800 per block hour.
"Biman ignores the shorter northern route to London, as it does not have over-fly permission for Turkmenistan, Russia and Kazakhstan," aviation experts explained.
Turkmenistan civil aviation authority (CAA) cancelled Biman's over-fly permission a couple of years back, as the national flag carrier failed to pay 13,000 Euro due payment as over-fly charge. Besides, the Biman has never approached the Russian CAA for the over-fly permission.
Both Boeing and Euro Atlantic recommended Biman to fly through the northern route at the time of Boeing 777-200ER lease agreement. But Biman's 'experts' neglected the suggestion, thus forcing the airlines to incur such a significant loss in every flight, they added.
Biman earlier chose the lengthy southern route in order to operate its own DC-10-30 aircraft with a drop at Dubai. It also suspended direct flights between Dhaka and London about two years back.
The Airbus A310-300, which Biman operates besides the Boeing-777-200ER, is also costly, as the aircraft is on dry-lease.
The state-run Biman has to pay an additional amount of US$40,000 per Dhaka-London-Dhaka flight due to unwise selection of 'southern route' instead of preferred 'northern route', a Biman high up has told the FE.
"The comparatively lengthy southern route - via Middle-East and North-Africa - takes about three hours of extra flight time per trip, causing an extra payment of $20,000 to the aircraft leasing company," the Biman official explained.
Additionally, the extra flight time burns 10 tonnes of fuel worth $16,000, and Biman also incurs a loss of five tonnes of additional pay-load per return flight on this route, the official added requesting anonymity.
Biman now operates five Dhaka-London-Dhaka flights per week, three of them with Boeing 777-200ER and two with Airbus A310-300. It took the wide-body Boeing 777-200ER on wet-lease from Lisbon-based Euro Atlantic Airways against $5,800 per block hour.
"Biman ignores the shorter northern route to London, as it does not have over-fly permission for Turkmenistan, Russia and Kazakhstan," aviation experts explained.
Turkmenistan civil aviation authority (CAA) cancelled Biman's over-fly permission a couple of years back, as the national flag carrier failed to pay 13,000 Euro due payment as over-fly charge. Besides, the Biman has never approached the Russian CAA for the over-fly permission.
Both Boeing and Euro Atlantic recommended Biman to fly through the northern route at the time of Boeing 777-200ER lease agreement. But Biman's 'experts' neglected the suggestion, thus forcing the airlines to incur such a significant loss in every flight, they added.
Biman earlier chose the lengthy southern route in order to operate its own DC-10-30 aircraft with a drop at Dubai. It also suspended direct flights between Dhaka and London about two years back.
The Airbus A310-300, which Biman operates besides the Boeing-777-200ER, is also costly, as the aircraft is on dry-lease.