Bangladesh Airports and Aviation [Archive] - Page 4

amar11372

January 25th, 2008, 12:36 PM

iasif

January 25th, 2008, 03:28 PM

More direct flights to Bangladesh

Rules for operation of air services between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were significantly liberalised at the Bilateral Air Services Negotiations between the two countries at the Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority Headquarters in Dhaka recently.

Previous operations of SriLankan Airlines to Bangladesh commenced in July 2000 were suspended in July 2001. Under the new arrangement, the frequency of passenger operations by airlines of both countries have been increased from the existing two to seven flights per week per destination.

Both countries will also be able to designate more than one carrier on such services between Colombo and Dhaka as well as Colombo and Chittagong.

The existing fifth freedom right for carriage of third country passenger traffic - Katmandu for Sri Lanka carriers and Male for Bangladesh carriers will remain unchanged.

Freighter operations between the two countries can now take place on unlimited basis between points in both countries. The carriage of third country cargo traffic to and from Sri Lanka or Bangladesh will have to be subject to discussion between aviation authorities of both sides.

The talks were follow up to the Joint Declaration of the Heads of Governments at the last SAARC Summit attended by President, Mahinda Rajapaksa to link the capitals of the region and to encourage people to people contact through expansion of air services.

On the President’s direction, arrangements were made by Ports and Aviation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama to have early discussions at Aviation Secretaries level to provide a conducive environment for operation of viable air services between the two countries.

The Bangladesh delegation was headed by Shaikh Altaf Ali, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism. Officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, Civil Aviation Authority, Biman Bangladesh Airlines and GMG Airlines participated .

The Sri Lanka delegation was headed by Tilak Collure, Secretary Ministry of Ports and Aviation and officials from Attorney General Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation Authority, SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka participated.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/01/25/news22.asp

Yet another example of the pathetic level of knowledge and expertise in the part of the Ministry for Civil Aviation and CAAB.

Most of the basic traffic between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will opt for the Sri Lankan carrier simply because there are more Sri Lankans here in Bangladesh than Bangladeshis in Sri Lanka. Add to that, there is almost no traffic between Bangladesh and Maldives for Bangadeshi carriers to take through Colombo, whereas I believe there's a significant movement of people between Colombo and Kathmandu to go through Dhaka. With the 5th freedom rights, a Sri Lankan carrier will be able to transport pax on/between ALL sectors of the Colombo-Dhaka-Kathmandu-Dhaka-Colombo route. Can we imagine, even in our wildest imagination, a Dhaka-Colombo-Male-Colombo-Dhaka route to be feasible?

Now that Sri Lankan Airlines is almost certain to go down the drain (with Emirates taking their hands off it, and LTTE poised to be back in action) I expect Mihin Lanka to make the most of this ASA.

The bottomline is (i) either the folks at the Ministry of Civil Aviation and CAAB are all pea-brained or (ii) these people are still as corrupt as traditionally been to get sold off for "wine and/or women and/or wealth".

Skyprince

January 25th, 2008, 05:45 PM

TIslam

January 25th, 2008, 07:51 PM

Yet another example of the pathetic level of knowledge and expertise in the part of the Ministry for Civil Aviation and CAAB.

Perhaps it is the wine, women and music thing but more than that, I think it is a case of sheer incompetence with a dose of "cow down" effect. Yet, why should Bangladesh cow down against a country like Sri Lanka? US, UK, or the gulf states, I can understand. I think these folks who conduct business on behalf of Bangladesh, become easily overpowered by better trained professionals. I wonder how many of these CAAB and/or the relevant ministries staffers, are career aviation analysts. And if devoid of such, I wonder whether they have the gumption to hire consultants to do the job, even on a project by project basis (thereby minimising cost).

TIslam

January 25th, 2008, 08:02 PM

Indian domestic aviation market is much bigger in size and geography, so they can adapt model where large number of aircrafts are needed to cover that market. That model does not make sense in terms of Bangladesh domestic market and trend. Our market strength is intl passenger where a new airline has to compete with giants like Emirates and others. So tasting water slowly may not be bad starategy.

I don't think we are arguing about number of aircrafts, rather the type and generation (of aircrafts).

As I stated eslewhere and earlier, Bangladesh domestic market is really not a factor for private airlines. Servicing the domestic sectors may the price to pay to operate in the supposed lucrative regional/international domain. So, for fleet planning, the focus should be there and not domestic market.

Tmac

January 26th, 2008, 02:59 AM

IFC likely broker for Biman's tie-up with strategic partner

Biman is set to appoint the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to broker a tie-up with a strategic partner as the national carrier moves to inject new life into its fortune, officials said.

If assigned, the IFC, the private lending arm of the World Bank, will seek to lure equity investors for the airlines, ailed by financial woes and age-old, depleting fleet, they said.

"Biman needs to find a suitable partner to stay afloat," MA Momen, its chief executive, told the FE.

"But that will require restructuring. We feel that IFC's advisory services can play a critical role in breathing new life into the airlines," he said.

The renewed move comes long after an abortive attempt by an international consortium led by American financial institution Citibank NA, seeking a strategic partner for the ailing airlines.

The country's flag carrier is scrambling to keep afloat as it incurred a loss of around US$100 million in 2007 fiscal, after a record loss of $120 million in the previous fiscal.

Biman, which became a public company last year, has a fleet of 12 aircraft, with their age spanning from 15 to 28 years.

The airline has identified the fuel-guzzling over-aged fleet as one of main reasons behind its perennial losses.

IFC has shown interest to sign a deal for providing advisory services during the visit of Lars H Thunell, its chief executive officer, who will arrive in the country on February 3, a senior official said.

He said under the deal, the IFC will first review the financial, technical and legal aspects of the airlines and the aviation sector in the country.

In the next phase, the IFC will make road-shows and one-to-one investor's meetings to find an equity partner.

Regional representative of IFC Per Kjellerhaug said his agency stands to provide consultancy services to Biman but both sides are still "working on the deal."

The IFC has a history of finding suitors for international airlines. It has successfully negotiated a number of privatisation deals involving international airlines since 1995.

The global lender, in its proposal, referred to its worldwide experience in the privatisation of airlines, citing examples of Polynesian Airlines, Air Tanzania, Kenya Airways, Cameroon Airlines and Rwandair Express.

However, IFC said it could not arrange a strategic investor for Air Botswana, due to "insufficient market interest in the carrier."

Kellerhaug was upbeat about drawing an equity partner for Biman, even though he was aware of the Citi's failed case.

The IFC official said securing an equity partner will hinge on a myriad of factors, notably value of the newly-corporatised company and the state of global commercial aviation market.

"The world is changing fast … It may change in a year, too," Kjellerhaug said, acknowledging the looming risks of managing an equity partner for Biman.

"An Asian crisis coupled with the bust in the global aviation market made it difficult for Citi to arrange a strategic partner for Biman in 2001," he said as he analysed the reasons behind the failure of Citi-led consortium.

Back in 2001, Biman assigned the consortium led by Citibank NA to help the national flag carrier arrange a strategic partner, but that effort proved futile, with consultants pocketting $1.44 million in fees.

The government's majority, global aviation market meltdown on the heels of 9/11 and restructuring of other regional big players are largely blamed for the investors' lukewarm response to Biman's quest for attracting equity investors.

An analyst said the IFC will now have "a better chance" to help attract international investors to the Biman deal.

"As a multilateral body, IFC has a special leverage. When it is involved in a deal, international investors will feel secure as there will be lower political risks," Nazrul Islam, who heads the Infrastructure Investment Facilitation Centre, said.

He, however, said unless the government agrees on divesting majority shares, it will be an uphill task for Biman to draw strategic partners.

Officials said the IFC sought US$0.6 million from the government to carry out the initial work that included a due diligence, assessment of restructuring options, company valuation and review of financial and legal aspects of the carrier.

In response, the interim government set aside $150,000 in the current budget for defraying the costs of consultancy fees.

The fees include up-front fees, milestone payments and a 'success fee' payable by the winning bidder upon the closure of the transaction.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=23531

clearsky

January 26th, 2008, 06:13 PM

Seems Dubai has the most passengers out of Zia. Emirates already serves Dhaka 2 X daily. Bangladesh Airlines is flying there also. And now GMG is introducing daily flights by a leased 747-200. and..... 543 seater !

Emirates is planning on adding two additional flights to their existing 14 weekly flights. As expected, they seem to be doing quite well.

Well, 2008 is going to be the most significant year in the history of Bangladesh as far as commercial aviation is concerned.

My crystal ball says:

- Significant policy changes for new airline startups. Will encourage greater private sector investment while ensuring better and safer standards of services to passengers

- Overall policy reforms for commercial aviation through updating the Civil Aviation Rules 1984 (better known as CAR84) and ancillary regulations

- A more competent Civil Aviation Authority

- A major overhaul of Biman (including its board, management, operations, fleet) resulting in greatest competency in its lifespan till date

- Significant infrastructural development (airports, ATC, etc.)

- By the end of the year, a very promising and healthy industry environment to prevail for Biman and private carriers alike

Godspeed!

To achieve all or most of the above, they must be in the implementation stage now or soon be in that stage to meet the year end deadline, as you predicted. How are we going to achieve all of the above milestones so quickly given the notorious history of incompetency on the part of the government?

iasif

January 26th, 2008, 06:41 PM

To achieve all or most of the above, they must be in the implementation stage now or soon be in that stage to meet the year end deadline, as you predicted. How are we going to achieve all of the above milestones so quickly given the notorious history of incompetency on the part of the government?

Let's live on good hopes...with our fingers crossed...shall we? :)

iasif

January 26th, 2008, 06:54 PM

IFC likely broker for Biman's tie-up with strategic partner
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=23531

1. IFC should not be appointed like this, without any competition. Biman should issue an RFP asking consulting companies to participate. Specialist consulting companies, agencies like IFC, and investment banks will participate and the contract should be awarded NOT just on lowest bid factor, but on experience, committed timeframe, approach to work, etc. Appointing IFC without any competition may not be at best interests of Biman.

2. Before even the RFP is issued, the Government must decide on the modalities of searching for a strategic partner. Without agreeing to transfer the management control and/or majority shareholding, searching for a partner through any agency will be an absolute loss of a few hundred thousand US dollars, as it had been in the case of Citigroups's effort through its subsidiary Salomon Smith Barney back in September 2001.

Tmac

January 26th, 2008, 08:35 PM

Unutilised Passenger Handling Capacity
ZIA misses Tk 400cr income a year

Bangladesh misses the opportunity of earning over Tk 400 crore extra yearly as more than 60 percent passenger-handling capacity of Zia International Airport (ZIA) remains unutilised.

Aviation experts and industry insiders said the earning of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) from ZIA would be tripled if the airport's full capacity could be utilised as more international airlines want to operate from here.

CAAB's income from ZIA was Tk 220.71 crore in 2006-07 fiscal year and Tk 160 crore in 2005-06, said CAAB Chairman Air Commodore Sakeb Khan Majlis.

Operation of more international airlines would have also created employment opportunities at the airport.

Experts blamed the government's protective policy about Bangladesh Biman, inefficiency in ground handling at ZIA and lack of marketing initiatives for missing these opportunities.

With its present infrastructure, ZIA is capable of handling around 85 lakh passengers yearly while 150 planes can take off and land at the airport every day.

But, according to an analysis of last five years, ZIA has handled 32 lakh passengers yearly on an average with 50 flights carrying around 8,500 passengers to different international destinations daily, sources in the civil aviation ministry and CAAB said.

The analysis found 30-35 planes land and take off at the airport during the peak hour from 6:00am to 12:00noon. Only 20 or less aircraft operate during the rest of the day, said a member of an inter-ministerial committee formed to prepare a feasibility study on allowing low-cost airlines to operate from ZIA.

Maximum utilisation of ZIA could be possible by allowing more flights during off-peak hours, he said, adding that the government can earn huge revenue from aeronautical and non-aeronautical services including landing, parking and route navigation with the existing facilities.

Requesting anonymity, a CAAB official said, "Biman's capacity has decreased because of the management's inefficiency although increase of passengers has been significant. Foreign airlines have increased their fares taking this advantage."

Allowing more airlines could bring all of them to a competition, which could ultimately result in the decrease in airfare and improvement of service standards.

"Biman cannot carry even 20 percent of Bangladeshi passengers going to different Middle Eastern countries," he said, adding, "We cannot ignore the interests of our workers for the interest of Biman since expatriate workers contribute to the national economy much more."

Criticising the government's protective policy for Biman, aviation expert Kazi Wahidul Alam said the number of Biman's carriers has come down to 11 from 17 at the time when the number of passengers is increasing around 2-2.5 lakh every year. Interestingly, only six or seven of Biman's carriers operate at a time.

"The ground handling equipment should also be modernised and if needed, private handling agents should be appointed at ZIA," said Wahidul, editor of The Bangladesh Monitor, an aviation and tourism magazine.

He also criticised the government for not having any marketing initiative for ZIA or other airports of the country. "All airlines, whether low cost or legacy, must be allowed to operate for the sake of competition," he added.

The government, however, has not been interested in allowing the airlines that charge low fare to operate from ZIA. "Each passenger could save over Tk 6,000 if they flew by these low-cost carriers, which are widely used in many countries," said an official of such an airline.

According to a CAAB official, Air Asia, Air India Express, Air Arabia, and Jazeera Airways of Kuwait applied to the government for operating from ZIA.

When contacted, the CAAB chairman said they have now become "quite liberal" in allowing more airlines to operate from Bangladesh.

He said they are trying to sign the Bilateral Air Service Agreements with more countries and review the existing ones to increase flights of both sides. "We are also trying so that the local private airlines are allowed to operate from other countries," he added.

Sakeb Khan said CAAB asked Biman to improve ZIA's ground handling quality. "We may also allow private agents to work at ZIA or it may be a joint venture of Biman and private agents for better services."

Asked about allowing the low-cost airlines, he said, "We prefer that these airlines operate from the Chittagong Airport, considering the traffic congestion in Dhaka."

He said, "We shall take concrete decisions on the basis of the recommendations of the inter-ministerial committee conducting the feasibility study n allowing low-cost airlines.”

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=20755

Tmac

January 26th, 2008, 08:38 PM

Biman pushes govt to ratify int'l treaty to cut borrowing costs

Biman is pushing the government to ratify an international treaty that will cut the cost of international borrowing for the country's airlines at a time when Bangladesh's national carrier prepares to renew its aging fleet.

The Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol is an international rule that allows global lenders to take control of aircraft in case of default by the debtor from a country that has ratified it.

The added security means the lender is prepared to finance the aircraft purchase at a lower interest rate, meaning the buyer will pay less for the plane.

MA Momen, chief executive of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said Biman favours the ratification because it will enable the national carrier to get easy financing from lenders.

“We want the government to ratify the convention and the Aircraft Protocol as soon as possible,” he said.

According to Biman, the government has formed a committee on the issue with representatives from Biman, the Civil Aviation Authority and other Bangladeshi airlines.

So far the committee has met twice to consider the treaty's ratification.

Unless a country ratifies the convention, international lenders generally impose high interest against the debtor due to the risk associated with lending. The Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol, which came into force in 2003, reduces the risk to such deals by establishing an international legal framework.

The move comes at a time when Biman is trying to renew its fleet of 12 aircraft. With many of its planes more than 15 years old the national carrier has struggled with high maintenance costs and poor fuel efficiency.

A team of Airbus officials is expected in Bangladesh early February to make a fresh offer to supply aircraft to Biman.

This is not the first time Biman has pushed for the treaty's ratification, however during the previous BNP led government the process stalled.

Biman is currently considering an offer from US-based Boeing to purchase eight aircraft in two phases. Boeing has said Bangladesh needs to ratify the treaty and protocol to have access to a loan guarantee from the US-based Exim Bank.

Imran Asif, an aviation industry consultant, said Bangladesh should ratify the Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol with high priority.

“It will allow Biman to get newer aircraft at lower interest rates and help it be more competitive in the global market resulting from increased operating efficiencies,” he said. “It will also enable Biman to take a more commercial approach to its operations motivated by the fact of having to repay the aircraft from its own revenues.”

Asif also said it will also enable private airlines to get financing at a lower cost.

Six carriers, including one domestic operator United Airways, entered Bangladesh's market last year while another local carrier Best Air launched its operation on in mid January.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=20792

amar11372

January 26th, 2008, 08:48 PM

Biman pushes govt to ratify int'l treaty to cut borrowing costs

Imran Asif, an aviation industry consultant, said Bangladesh should ratify the Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol with high priority.

“It will allow Biman to get newer aircraft at lower interest rates and help it be more competitive in the global market resulting from increased operating efficiencies,” he said. “It will also enable Biman to take a more commercial approach to its operations motivated by the fact of having to repay the aircraft from its own revenues.”

Asif also said it will also enable private airlines to get financing at a lower cost.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=20792

WOW I just saw your name on the article. Congrats Mr Imran Asif (iasif). Hopefully you can dedicated others can bring dynamism and transparency to our Aviation sector.

Tmac

January 26th, 2008, 08:50 PM

WOW I just saw your name on the article. Congrats Mr Imran Asif (iasif). Hopefully you can dedicated others can bring dynamism and transparency to our Aviation sector.

BRAVO IMRAN! Keep up the great work!!!!!!!

iasif

January 26th, 2008, 09:33 PM

WOW I just saw your name on the article. Congrats Mr Imran Asif (iasif). Hopefully you can dedicated others can bring dynamism and transparency to our Aviation sector.

I've been quoted in most recent reports (in DS, FE - as posted here for discussion) but the fact is, just getting quoted in newspaper reports doesn't help in bringing about any good. All goodness eventually come from good intentions, and I'm trying to hold as much of that as possible in my heart.

At the end of the day, if I see myself having contributed to bring about any change for good, I'll be posting a nice little "32-all-out" smile up here!

TIslam

January 27th, 2008, 06:28 AM

I've been quoted in most recent reports (in DS, FE - as posted here for discussion) but the fact is, just getting quoted in newspaper reports doesn't help in bringing about any good. All goodness eventually come from good intentions, and I'm trying to hold as much of that as possible in my heart.

At the end of the day, if I see myself having contributed to bring about any change for good, I'll be posting a nice little "32-all-out" smile up here!

I can understand your frustration but couldn't you muster up some more experts/vested group (nothing wrong in promoting civil aviation) to beat up on the government or the powers that be?

I couldn't help but chuckle to read that somebody in CAAB/governement said that they prefer LCCs to operate from CGP owing to "congestion" at ZIA. Hah! Some congestion! While today's Mumbai airport may be have an expanded infrastructure today, but it has been operating in over congested mode for a few decades, and so is Heathrow, without much disruption of traffic.

Another thing that gets me is, why do they have to bring Biman into everything? What makes Biman the expert in airport operation? What is so wrong with bidding out to outside companies? If the Indians, who are such a stickler for "national security" can privatise airport operations, why can't a country like Bangladesh?

Anyway, we'll cheer you like a hero if all of our aspirations and hopes come true in Bangladesh civil aviation, and soon. :cheers:

amar11372

January 27th, 2008, 12:08 PM

^^ By the way TIslam are you studying at the University Of Michigan @ Ann Arbor? I ask because one of my close friend from high school went there to study economics.

iasif

January 27th, 2008, 02:51 PM

I can understand your frustration but couldn't you muster up some more experts/vested group (nothing wrong in promoting civil aviation) to beat up on the government or the powers that be?

I couldn't help but chuckle to read that somebody in CAAB/governement said that they prefer LCCs to operate from CGP owing to "congestion" at ZIA. Hah! Some congestion! While today's Mumbai airport may be have an expanded infrastructure today, but it has been operating in over congested mode for a few decades, and so is Heathrow, without much disruption of traffic.

Another thing that gets me is, why do they have to bring Biman into everything? What makes Biman the expert in airport operation? What is so wrong with bidding out to outside companies? If the Indians, who are such a stickler for "national security" can privatise airport operations, why can't a country like Bangladesh?

Anyway, we'll cheer you like a hero if all of our aspirations and hopes come true in Bangladesh civil aviation, and soon. :cheers:

Well, its not that I'm trying everything all by myself...I do have some support from different people who are trying from their own positions. The problem with finding true support for anything good is most people would end up protecting their "own" interests ONLY...which is when it sickens me. Sure we all have our own interests, but then I personally wouldn't want to simply strive to accumulate wealth at the cost of the industry and the nation as a whole.

As for some people talking about "congestion" at ZIA, I'd say if there's any, it is because of the sheer presence of THESE PEOPLE (READ: PESTS) THEMSELVES in the aviation industry of Bangladesh!

And they bring in Biman into everything because that's all that their pea-brains can think of. Am I being rude here...YES! Do I feel guilty...HELL NO!

TIslam

January 27th, 2008, 08:46 PM

^^ By the way TIslam are you studying at the University Of Michigan @ Ann Arbor? I ask because one of my close friend from high school went there to study economics.

No, I'm long past my college days. I live in AA where the U of M campus is a ten minutes drive.

TIslam

January 28th, 2008, 02:15 AM

No, I'm long past my college days. I live in AA where the U of M campus is a ten minutes drive.

amar11372:

Allow me to add that if your friend is still here studying and is homesick or just would like to get acquainted with some folks from back home, s/he could call on us. If yes, please pm me and I'll pass on my contact info.

Tmac

January 28th, 2008, 03:59 AM

Dhaka's international airport loses $57 mn annually

Bangladesh loses over four billion taka (around $57 million) annually as more than 60 percent passenger-handling capacity of Dhaka's Zia International Airport (ZIA) remains unutilised.

Aviation experts and industry insiders said the earning of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) from ZIA would be tripled if the airport's full capacity could be utilized, as more international airlines want to operate from here, The Daily Star reported Sunday.

CAAB's income from ZIA was 2.21 billion taka (around $31.6 million) in the fiscal year 2006-07 and 1.6 billion taka (around $22.9 million) in 2005-06, CAAB Chairman Air Commodore Sakeb Khan Majlis was quoted as saying.

Operation of more international airlines would have also created employment opportunities at the airport.

Experts blamed the government's protective policy about Bangladesh' national airlines Biman, inefficiency in ground handling at ZIA and lack of marketing initiatives for missing these opportunities.

With its present infrastructure, ZIA is capable of handling around 8.5 million passengers yearly, while 150 planes can take off and land at the airport every day.

But, according to an analysis of last five years, ZIA has handled 3.2 million passengers yearly on an average with 50 flights carrying around 8,500 passengers to different international destinations daily, sources in the civil aviation ministry and CAAB said.

An official from the CAAB said: "Biman's capacity has decreased because of the management's inefficiency although increase of passengers has been significant. Foreign airlines have increased their fares taking this advantage."

Allowing more airlines could bring competition, which could ultimately result in the decrease in the airfare and improvement of service standards.

Bangladesh has three international airports including ZIA in capital Dhaka, one in the southeastern port city Chittagong and another in the northeastern city of Sylhet.

http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2008/jan/27/dhakas_international_airport_loses_57_mn_annually.html

Tmac

January 28th, 2008, 04:14 AM

Biman taxing on Sylhet Airport runway

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/Dhaka1/Dhaka2/sylhetairport12.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/Dhaka1/Dhaka2/sylhetairport13.jpg

bromora

January 28th, 2008, 12:14 PM

Power outage puts ZIA in 2hr blackout (http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=20992)

Zia International Airport (ZIA) plunged into a chaos last night as an unprecedented 2-hour power outage shut down all airport operations leaving over a thousand passengers stranded, with some of them stuck in flights unable to land on dark runways.

Power went out in Terminal 1 around 9:45pm and emergency power generators failed to operate shrouding in darkness both departure and arrival halls with hundreds of passengers clueless about what to do under the circumstances.

All security gates were shut immediately after the power outage and no one was allowed to leave the airport until power was restored.

The runways also did not have adequate lighting during the blackout, forcing one flight to circle above the airport for at least 10 minutes, and another three to delay their landings by hours.

Departures of four other flights were delayed by over two hours. The lights on the runways were powered by batteries after half an hour, allowing flights to cautiously depart and land.

Boarding bridges were also not operating, forcing hundreds of passengers on three flights to disembark for about an hour and a half.

"We were kept on the plane for over an hour after landing. It was pitch dark, we couldn't see a thing. Everything they tried failed and it seemed they had no idea how to handle an emergency situation," said a passenger stuck on board a flight of Malaysian Airlines that could not disembark its passengers.

Even after they got off the plane, all passengers grew restless as they saw no security around the dark corridors of the airport and later on at the baggage carousel, the passenger added.

"In my 32 years of working at Dhaka airports, I have never seen such an incident. It was truly frightening," said an airport official to The Daily Star.

Airport, Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco), and ZIA officials scrambled to get the power supply restored and managed to get the generators operating after

two hours around 11.30pm.

A probe committee was formed to look into the incident, especially the reasons behind the failure to operate the alternative power generators, said Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Chairman Air Commodore Sakeb Khan Majlish.

The CAAB chairman said due to a power failure in a grid of the power supply authority the outage occurred, but did not explain the failure of the alternative generators.

Power to the airport is supplied by Desco.

Desco Managing Director Saleh Ahmed told UNB that there was no problem in Desco's power lines.

"There might have been glitches in the airport's internal power system," he said.

Tmac

January 28th, 2008, 08:26 PM

RAK Airways to operate flights for 3 months more
Move aims to help clear backlog of Bangladesh workers heading to Middle East

UAE-based RAK Airways has been given the right to operate flights from Bangladesh for an additional three months in order to help clear the backlog of workers heading to the Middle East (ME).

“We have in principle given the approval to RAK Airways to operate from Bangladesh for a temporary period of three months,” said Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Air Commodore Sakeb Iqbal Khan Majlis.

RAK Airways began its operation from Dhaka by the end of November last year under the open sky policy, which ends on January 31.

The open sky policy was launched in September last year, at a time when Bangladeshi workers were facing severe seat shortages on regular flights to Malaysia and the Middle East countries.

Four airlines -- Air Asia X, Air Arabia, RAK Airways and local private operator GMG Airlineshave taken advantage of the open sky policy.

The Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) issued about 8.30 lakh immigration clearances to workers in 2007. Of them, over 6 lakh left the country for overseas jobs, BMET Director General Abdul Malek said.

“We have so far issued over 73,000 immigration clearances to workers,” he added.

The CAAB chairman said, “There is still pressure of outbound passengers. Our people (workers) are still going, so we have given the permission to the airline.”

Asked about the extension of the open sky policy, the CAAB chairman said the government has not yet taken any decision on the issue.

According to the CAAB, RAK Airways will operate three flights a week from Dhaka and Chittagong.

Majlis said the CAAB may consider applications of the remaining airlines that are flying under the open sky policy.

“But we will consider allowing budget carrier from Dhaka later,” he said.

“We are thankful to the government for allowing us to operate on temporary basis,” said SAK Ekramuzzaman, chief executive of Mohammed Aviation, the sales agent of RAK Airways in Bangladesh.

“There is unbelievable pressure,” he said, “We are going in full flights regularly.”

Ekramuzzaman said the airline will start operation from February 1 under the latest permission.

“We will continue flights on Dhaka-Ras Al Khaimah-Dhaka route and hope to start flights from Chittagong from March 15,” he said.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=21054

iasif

January 28th, 2008, 08:58 PM

Power outage puts ZIA in 2hr blackout (http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=20992)

Expect:
- NO ONE to admit their faults
- EVERYONE to point their fingers at others
- And of course, a "high-powered committee" to probe (!?!) into the incident

What we need is a paradigm change.

planemannyc

January 28th, 2008, 11:06 PM

http://gmgairlines.com/index2.html

I think that's the only photo of the aircraft (or any other other than the Dash 8s) on the website.

Best,

Wasim / Planemannyc

amar11372

January 29th, 2008, 12:35 AM

amar11372:

Allow me to add that if your friend is still here studying and is homesick or just would like to get acquainted with some folks from back home, s/he could call on us. If yes, please pm me and I'll pass on my contact info.

Thanks for the offer TIslam, but his family is in Pennsylvania so I doubt he gets homesick. Usually I go to University of Michigan right before the summer to visit him. I will let you know beforehand when I am there.

TIslam

January 29th, 2008, 01:56 AM

Thanks for the offer TIslam, but his family is in Pennsylvania so I doubt he gets homesick. Usually I go to University of Michigan right before the summer to visit him. I will let you know beforehand when I am there.

It would be great to meet a fellow forum member! Keep me posted.

Tmac

January 29th, 2008, 02:04 AM

http://gmgairlines.com/index2.html

I think that's the only photo of the aircraft (or any other other than the Dash 8s) on the website.

Best,

Wasim / Planemannyc

thanks man. I would love to see an actual photo of a GMG 747 aircraft.

TIslam

January 29th, 2008, 02:04 AM

Expect:
- NO ONE to admit their faults
- EVERYONE to point their fingers at others
- And of course, a "high-powered committee" to probe (!?!) into the incident

What we need is a paradigm change.

The whole country needs a paradigm shift! But is it going to happen? Not in my lifetime, I think.

Where there ever a "low powered" probe comittee for anything in Bangladesh? Come to think of it, I realize now why airports shall never be privatised in Bangladesh. If they did so, all the bigwigs would lose their plum jobs, even though majority of employees would be retained by the private operators.

Nothing will ever change for better in Bangladesh because the change would have to be brought about abruptly, forcefully and single mindly, which no government or the entrenched administrators can ever begin to comprehend.

TIslam

January 29th, 2008, 02:07 AM

[QUOTE=Tmac;18010638]Biman taxing on Sylhet Airport runway
QUOTE]

Great find, Tmac! I loved the shot. Biman, with its problems notwithstanding, still appears majestic, in my eyes. Thanks.

tanzirian

January 29th, 2008, 08:19 AM

[QUOTE=Tmac;18010638]Biman taxing on Sylhet Airport runway
QUOTE]

Great find, Tmac! I loved the shot. Biman, with its problems notwithstanding, still appears majestic, in my eyes. Thanks.

I have always thought the logo / color scheme very nice and appropriate. I would hate to see it go.

Mamun85

January 29th, 2008, 09:13 AM

Tmac
thank you very much for providing us a lot of information and images related to the Bangladesh Aviation industry but most of you loaded images are not appear directly so hthink about it and make your messages to the audiance clear and easy.
thanks again:nuts:

Moin

January 29th, 2008, 11:32 AM

Royal Bengal Airlines will start flight from 31st january. They will operate on Dkaka-Ctg and Dhk-Sylhet route.

iasif

January 29th, 2008, 05:55 PM

Royal Bengal Airlines will start flight from 31st january. They will operate on Dkaka-Ctg and Dhk-Sylhet route.

With them adding in to the list of domestic carriers, we'll have in excess of 700 seats available everyday between DAC-CGP. And these new carriers are putting up a price war as well....with Best Air selling @ BDT 3,900 and Royal Bengal for approx BDT 3,500 on the route. Yet another reason I doubt the sustainability of these carriers in the long-run.

From what I know, we have an average of 300 pax daily between DAC-CGP and we have more than TWICE the capacity, that too on a sector which is just over 120 nautical miles which means they can't be having much room to cut operating costs either (even with the Dash-8s, which are by far more economical than the MD-82, B737-200, F-28, A310, DC-10 also operated on this route).

The bottomline is: it is an unhealthy price war, which is most likely to lead to unsustainable operations by these carriers, unless there's a radical change of fortune for them.

Tmac

January 29th, 2008, 09:47 PM

Price war landing on local air market

http://www.thedailystar.net/photos/2008-01-30__bus02.jpg
Under the brand Royal Bengal, Aviana Airways will start domestic operations from tomorrow, fuelling a price competition among the existing operators. PHOTO: Aviana Airways

A price war is expected to break out on Bangladesh's two major domestic air routes with the newly started Aviana Airways undercutting its rivals when it starts operations tomorrow.

Under the brand Royal Bengal, Aviana Airways will fly on Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet routes from January 31, offering a one-way (Dhaka-Chittagong) fare at Tk 3,520 and (Dhaka-Sylhet) at Tk 3,295, the lowest ever offered by a private operator on the routes.

“We do understand that there are a lot of competitors. But we want to make a fresh start with a level of product that has not been experienced yet by the domestic travellers in Bangladesh,” said Syed Imtiaz Ali, deputy general manager (commercial) of the airline, yesterday.

Imtiaz said the airline will make travel affordable and generate new passengers. “Our prices are really very good. But I hope there will be healthy competition generating new passengers,” he said.

Aviana Airways is the fourth private airline to start operation in competition with the national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines. The others are GMG Airlines, United Airways and Best Aviation. All five will now be competing on the two most popular routes.

Some analysts have warned that the present level of competition is not sustainable considering the size of the market. However others hoped cheaper fares would encourage many more people to fly.

At present the one-way fare on Dhaka-Chittagong route charged by GMG Airlines is Tk 4,220, while on Dhaka-Sylhet route is Tk 3,720.

Other operators, excluding, Biman, are offering fares between Tk 3,900 and Tk 3,945 on Dhaka-Chittagong route.

“The number of regular passengers is still below the present seat capacities of the airlines. If such a price war continues, it will be tougher for all to sustain,” said Imran Asif, an aviation industry consultant.

“It's an unhealthy price war. It's not sustainable,” he added.

MA Muhaimin Saleh, president of Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh, said the airlines should compete for improving their services, not for cutting travel cost, as Bangladesh's domestic aviation market is small.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=21242

Tmac

January 29th, 2008, 10:02 PM

Biman to lease Boeing-747 for one year

Biman will lease a Boeing-747 for one year.

The Board of Directors, the highest body of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, yesterday approved it in principle at a meeting with Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Majumder in the chair.

The meeting also approved buying an engine for a DC10-30 aircraft.

The national flag carrier will launch flights on the new Dhaka- Kunming-Hongkong route after getting the leased aircraft.

All members of the Biman board attended the meeting held at the office of the cabinet secretary.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines earlier floated tender to lease one Boeing.

"After scrutinising all tenders, we will select the company," Biman CEO Dr MA Momen, also a member of Biman Board, told The Daily Star last night.

Leasing the Boeing-747 for one year will cost about $19-20 million, sources at Biman said.

Flight schedule of Biman Bangladesh Airlines collapsed in the recent days due to scarcity of aircraft and technical glitches, causing untold sufferings to its passengers.

Biman was compelled to cut in seven international routes, which include New York, Yangon, Mumbai, Frankfurt, Orly (Paris), Brussels and Manchester and reduce flight frequencies on five profitable international routes like Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait, London and Rome.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=21129

TIslam

January 30th, 2008, 03:34 AM

With them adding in to the list of domestic carriers, we'll have in excess of 700 seats available everyday between DAC-CGP. And these new carriers are putting up a price war as well....with Best Air selling @ BDT 3,900 and Royal Bengal for approx BDT 3,500 on the route. Yet another reason I doubt the sustainability of these carriers in the long-run.

From what I know, we have an average of 300 pax daily between DAC-CGP and we have more than TWICE the capacity, that too on a sector which is just over 120 nautical miles which means they can't be having much room to cut operating costs either (even with the Dash-8s, which are by far more economical than the MD-82, B737-200, F-28, A310, DC-10 also operated on this route).

The bottomline is: it is an unhealthy price war, which is most likely to lead to unsustainable operations by these carriers, unless there's a radical change of fortune for them.

When the dust settles it'll be back to square one. In the early days of privatised domestic aviation market, there were quite a few, GMG, Air Parabat, Aero Bengal, et. al., with GMG being the sole survivor.

If folks are interested in the airlines business, I think some should play pioneering roles, instead of joining the band wagon. Why try to compete on the same sectors? Why not try to open up new markets by servicing negelected far flung (relatively speaking) cities and airports? Also, how about flying point-to-point and muliti-point, like DAC-JSR-CGP-SYL-DAC, or DAC-RJH-SDP-DAC?

iasif

January 30th, 2008, 06:46 AM

When the dust settles it'll be back to square one. In the early days of privatised domestic aviation market, there were quite a few, GMG, Air Parabat, Aero Bengal, et. al., with GMG being the sole survivor.

If folks are interested in the airlines business, I think some should play pioneering roles, instead of joining the band wagon. Why try to compete on the same sectors? Why not try to open up new markets by servicing negelected far flung (relatively speaking) cities and airports? Also, how about flying point-to-point and muliti-point, like DAC-JSR-CGP-SYL-DAC, or DAC-RJH-SDP-DAC?

For the majority of its first 10 years, GMG has been swimming against the tide and have just made it to better waters with going international (especially with getting to fly to the Middle-East). From hereon in the business gets tricky, but if managed carefully the next 10 years (and beyond) could be far, far better for GMG than the last 10 they've left behind.

And just like you said, there's a better scope of domestic airline business from creating a new market than from crowding the one already there. Maybe we'll soon see someone coming up with such an effort!

Mamun85

January 30th, 2008, 08:50 AM

Yes it is good to see more flights flying over Bangladesh sky but as other mentioned that they have creat new routes insted of flying on same route i think it is batter for GMG as older one two operate Dhaka Shylet Chittagong. Or Dhaka Chittagong Jessore and reduce flights between DAC CGP only.

Mamun85

January 31st, 2008, 12:10 PM

The government is not going to extend the time frame of open sky policy that comes to an end today, a senior official of civil aviation ministry said yesterday.

“Everything has become normal. There is no necessity to extend the time frame,” Shaikh Altaf Ali, secretary to Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, told The Daily Star over phone.

The open sky policy came to effect in September last year to ease travelling problems of the outbound passengers, especially the workers with jobs in the Middle East and Malaysia.

The secretary said the government allowed the facility considering the pressure of outbound travellers as some airlines were engaged in Hazz flight operations then.

“Now every airline has resumed normal operation,” he said, adding that private GMG Airlines will also operate flights to the Middle East.

Short duration of the open sky policy, however, did not attract a considerable number of operators to fly from Bangladesh. Only four airlines -- Air Asia X, Air Arabia, RAK Airways and GMG Airlines -- took the benefit of the policy.

Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh President MA Muhaimin Saleh demanded that the government declare a one-year open sky policy to ease the pressure permanently.

“Otherwise, pressure of outbound travellers will remain,” he said.

According to Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), it issued around 8.30 lakh immigration clearances to workers in 2007.

Of them, over 6 lakh left the country for overseas jobs, BMET Director General Abdul Malek said.

www.dailystar.net

Skyprince

January 31st, 2008, 12:45 PM

Hi guyz, I got this newsletter from Air Asia via my mail account, today.

AirAsia
KL - Guangzhou beginning 16 Jan '08
KL - Yogyakarta beginning 30 Jan '08
KL - Singapore beginning 1 Feb '08

AirAsia X
KL - Hangzhou (Shanghai) beginning 4 Feb '08

AirAsia new routes coming soon via KL LCT

KL - Hainan, China (March '08)
KL - Guilin, China (April '08)
KL - Tirchur or Thrissur, Kerala, India
KL - Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India

Future destinations: Avalon (Melbourne), Adelaide, Newcastle (Sydney), Darwin, Perth, Stansted (London), Ho Chi Minh City, Dhaka, Chittagong, Colombo, Kathmandu, Cebu, Davao City, Xiamen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Tianjin (Beijing)

I also received this kind of newsletters since the middle of last year.
" Future destinations " means operation to those destinations will start within 3 month to 1 year from now :banana:

Skyprince

January 31st, 2008, 12:58 PM

iasif

January 31st, 2008, 05:48 PM

^^ The cheapest fare for current K.Lumpur-Macau ( 4 hr-flight ) by Air Asia, is $120 , return ( including all tax and surcharge ) .

Dhaka is also 4 hr range , so I bet the return fare should be around $ 120.

Well, if they decide to do the KUL-DAC-KUL route with their A320s, they'd need to take some fuel from Dhaka as the A320 won't make the ~3,000 nm roundtrip+2 cycles without refueling. Jet-fuel is very expensive in Dhaka, and that adds significantly to the operating costs of an airline, more so for an LCC like Air Asia.

If they do it with the A330, they can do the roundtrip easily without taking any fuel from Dhaka, but then again the airport charges (landing, parking, handling, etc.) are higher in Dhaka compared to Macau, and that adds to the costs as well.

My speculative deduction is that the KUL-DAC-KUL flight on Air Asia would be higher than US$ 120, for one reason or the other, as mentioned above.

Skyprince

January 31st, 2008, 06:25 PM

Well, if they decide to do the KUL-DAC-KUL route with their A320s, they'd need to take some fuel from Dhaka as the A320 won't make the ~3,000 nm roundtrip+2 cycles without refueling. Jet-fuel is very expensive in Dhaka, and that adds significantly to the operating costs of an airline, more so for an LCC like Air Asia.

If they do it with the A330, they can do the roundtrip easily without taking any fuel from Dhaka, but then again the airport charges (landing, parking, handling, etc.) are higher in Dhaka compared to Macau, and that adds to the costs as well.

My speculative deduction is that the KUL-DAC-KUL flight on Air Asia would be higher than US$ 120, for one reason or the other, as mentioned above.

That's absolutely right.

Dhaka's airport tax is incredibly high, $ 50 added into my THAI Airways ticket when I purchased it. HK's and Macau's are way way cheaper. But I know Mr Tony Fernandes ( Air Asia's CEO ) will find alternatives e.g. no aerobridge use or using Tejgaon airport ( possible ? ) instead of Zia to save cost.

If so, $120 round-trip DAC-KUL will soon become a reality .

I'm not sure whether Dhaka and Chittagong flights will be under Air Asia or Air Asia X( long haul ) tag.　 Air Asia X operates only A330 aircrafts while Air Asia operates all-A320s from KUL. How come jet fuel is costly in Dhaka ? Gasoline price in BD is relatively cheap .

amar11372

January 31st, 2008, 07:49 PM

iasif

January 31st, 2008, 08:00 PM

That's absolutely right.

Dhaka's airport tax is incredibly high, $ 50 added into my THAI Airways ticket when I purchased it. HK's and Macau's are way way cheaper. But I know Mr Tony Fernandes ( Air Asia's CEO ) will find alternatives e.g. no aerobridge use or using Tejgaon airport ( possible ? ) instead of Zia to save cost.

If so, $120 round-trip DAC-KUL will soon become a reality .

I'm not sure whether Dhaka and Chittagong flights will be under Air Asia or Air Asia X( long haul ) tag.　 Air Asia X operates only A330 aircrafts while Air Asia operates all-A320s from KUL. How come jet fuel is costly in Dhaka ? Gasoline price in BD is relatively cheap .

Fact # 1: Tejgaon airport is not usable for commercial flights (i.e. non-STOL) for the reason that the very runway has a permanent structure on it, better known as the National Parade Ground. And here's the best part: RAJUK and CAAB has identified 150-odd buildings around the airport to be cut to size to make flights safer into and out of Tejgaon airport. However, that structure on the runway isn't on the list of demolition!

If you ask me, I'd say for that all good reasons Tejgaon airport should itself be cut to size to allow rotorcrafts only.

Fact # 2: Jet-fuel in Dhaka has 40% (yes, FORTY!) duties on what would otherwise be the world market price. I think the world is currently selling jet-fuel at 40-something cents/litre, and it is 60-something cents/litre here in Dhaka. The obnoxiously unacceptable justification cited is subsudization for diesel. The obvious results of this stupid policymaking by the Ministry of Energy are:
(i) no international carrier buys fuel from Dhaka unless they just have to;
(ii) Biman as the largest buyer of jet-fuel from Dhaka suffers from extremely high operating costs adding to its incompetitiveness against intl carriers.

Its facts like these that makes me feel like jumping out through my window...I just need to find a James Dean in me!

Moin

January 31st, 2008, 10:04 PM

29 January 2008

Cabot Aviation Arranges Leases for Two 747s

Bangladeshi carrier GMG Airlines has leased two 747-300s from Air Atlanta Icelandic. The wet leases were arranged by Cabot Aviation, the first aircraft will be delivered on 1 February and the second on 1 April 2008. GMG Airlines will use the aircraft on the Dhaka to Dubai and Dhaka to Kuala Lumpur scheduled routes.

http://www.airfinancejournal.com/default.asp?Page=2&PUB=136&ISS=24470&SID=701428

kodbel

January 31st, 2008, 10:43 PM

Further info from Cabot Aviation : http://www.cabotaviation.com/pressrel.htm

Cabot Aviation is pleased to announce that it has arranged the wet lease of two B747-300 aircraft to GMG Airlines in Bangladesh. The aircraft have been leased from Air Atlanta Icelandic. The first aircraft is Serial Number is 23028 and will be delivered on 1 February 2008 and the second is 23030 which will be delivered on 1 April 2008.

GMG Airlines is a privately owned airline based in Dhaka which has been operating since 1998. It will operate these B747 aircraft on scheduled routes from Dhaka to Kuala Lumpur and Dubai and has plans to extend its network to neighboring countries in the near future. GMG currently operates three DHC8s and two MD82s on a variety of domestic and international routes. It already operates to Kuala Lumpur on a daily basis with an MD82 but Dubai will be a new route.

Tony Whitty says "We talked to several operators and selected Air Atlanta due to its long term reputation in the ACMI market. They have operated for many years throughout the world and their experience will be very valuable to GMG. We have been working with GMG for a long period of time and recently helped them buy a DHC8. They are a very professional airline who is seeking to help the people of Bangladesh fly to various cities for work and pleasure and we are looking at several additional aircraft for them."

Both the B747's have changed hands a lot in it's lifetime. Both are almost 24 years old, so they are not young either.
This one is already in service (http://airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-b747-23028.htm)
This one joining in April'08 (http://airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-b747-23030.htm)

The one already in the fleet (TF-AMK) was used by Biman in their recent Hajj flight and has been without a livery for quite a long while. So GMG won't have to bother about changing livery. Not sure about the other one though..

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/2851/1271623rz5.jpg
(Photo credit: Airliners.net Taken @ MAN on Sep 15' 2007)

The other one to join later is TF-AMJ
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/9200/1277993yw3.jpg
(Photo credit: Airliners.net Taken @ HAJ on Sep 18' 2007)

saad_hawk

February 1st, 2008, 08:59 AM

Does anybody by chance have the pictures of the 747s for Biman or GMG by chance. I have always wanted to see a 747 in bangladeshi color

bromora

February 1st, 2008, 04:50 PM

Does anybody by chance have the pictures of the 747s for Biman or GMG by chance. I have always wanted to see a 747 in bangladeshi color

Here's a video :naughty:

aBGNHi4dZKs

tanzirian

February 1st, 2008, 08:11 PM

Here's a video :naughty:

Oooh...this plane can dance to music...a feature previously unknown to me...

And who says it's old? Just 25 years or so? I wish I was that age again :D

amar11372

February 2nd, 2008, 12:39 AM

Does anybody by chance have the pictures of the 747s for Biman or GMG by chance. I have always wanted to see a 747 in bangladeshi color

So far only one from their site. Enjoy.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2276/2234919395_183cfb688a_o.jpg

Tmac

February 2nd, 2008, 02:20 AM

New air deals likely to help pvt airlines spread wings

Bangladesh will sign a slew of air deals and revise some existing ones with key countries across the globe as it moves to spread the wings of local airlines abroad, a senior official said Friday.

The government will revise existing air services agreements with India this month and Saudi Arabia and Oman later this year while it plans to sign fresh deal with China, Jordan and Canada, civil aviation secretary Sheikh Altaf Ali said.

"We want to sign new air services deals with the countries where we have seen major growth in air traffic in the recent months," Ali said.

"We want to increase the number of flights there and also make some of the deals multiple-designated so that the private airlines can fly to these growth areas," Ali said.

The move was taken after the entry of at least three airlines in the last five months. On Thursday, Royal Aviation made its debut as the fourth private airlines in the country.

The government has removed key policy obstacles in November last year, making it easier for the airlines to hire aircraft and fly to overseas destination immediately without flying a mandatory six months to domestic routes.

But the private airlines have urged the government that unless it revises the existing air services deals with key countries, they cannot survive alone on domestic route.

Analysts said domestic aviation routes in Bangladesh are so small that all the private and state-owned airlines have been losing money.

"As far as air travel is concerned Bangladesh is a very small country. There is no way private airlines can break-even in Bangladesh by relying only on domestic operation," independent analyst Imran Asif said.

"They need to fly abroad, especially to the destinations where air traffic are growing fast. The government should move quickly to help them. Else, the foreign airlines will grab the market," he said.

Ali said the government already revised 12 air services agreement with key countries last year. Early this month it signed a deal with Kenya, the gateway to eastern African countries.

Till January, the country has signed air services deals with 45 countries, although bulk of the traffic goes to the Gulf and South East Asia.

"Our aim is to see a vibrant aviation sector. We want everyone to grow and grab new opportunities," Ali said.

The secretary will fly to New Delhi next week to revise a 13-year-old old deal with India.

Officials said the both the sides are looking to increase flight frequencies following huge growth of air traffic between the two countries.

Largest private carrier GMG welcomed the government's move to revise and sign air deals.

"We want to go a lot of places. But we cannot go as the existing deals stand as obstacles," Erfan Haq, general manager of GMG, said.

The GMG has appealed for a deal with Canada, as nearly 100,000 largely affluent Bangladeshis have now settled there.

The company also wants to go to Saudi Arabia, the biggest destination for Bangladeshis.

But the existing deal only allows the state-owned carriers to make the flights, although a Bangladeshi worker has to wait at least three weeks to avail a ticket to the Kingdom.

"We also want to increase the number of flights to India. We hope the upcoming India-Bangladesh air services talk would bear some fruits for us," Haq said.

The government has recently allowed Best Air to fly to the southern Chinese city of Kunming. Currently only the state-owned China Eastern Airlines operates in the profitable route.

The company, majority-owned by a Kuwait company, has urged the government to revise the existing air deal soon so that it can launch its international operation soon, an official said.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=24188

iasif

February 2nd, 2008, 08:31 AM

New air deals likely to help pvt airlines spread wings

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=24188

As big an optimist as I am, I have strong doubts regarding the "ability" of the folks at the Ministry and CAAB to properly negotiate an Air Service Agreement with another country. There are numerous examples which goes to prove its sheer incompetence regarding ASA negotiations...ones with Hong Kong, Qatar, and more recently Sri Lanka are just a few to name.

Skyprince

February 2nd, 2008, 05:17 PM

Anybody has pics of Cox's Bazaar airport ? can't find it in flickr..... Somebody told me there are flights to both Dhaka and Chittagong/ Chittagong is only 3 hrs away by bus hmm..

Anyway, thanks iasif for the info.

Tmac

February 2nd, 2008, 07:09 PM

TIslam

February 2nd, 2008, 07:42 PM

As big an optimist as I am, I have strong doubts regarding the "ability" of the folks at the Ministry and CAAB to properly negotiate an Air Service Agreement with another country. There are numerous examples which goes to prove its sheer incompetence regarding ASA negotiations...ones with Hong Kong, Qatar, and more recently Sri Lanka are just a few to name.

While what you state is probably true, Bangladesh being a country where the government is your Ma Baap, who is not only incompetent but an arrogant know it all, the only way to bring about positive change, to my mind, would be to try to educate them through the media.

Why don't you inform them and the public as to what is wrong in their past and current ASAs and how should new ones be done?

Tmac

February 2nd, 2008, 07:47 PM

here are some old photos of Cox's Bazar Airport I had posted earlier. Nothing spectacular.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/coxsbazarairport.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/Dhaka1/Dhaka2/coxsbazarairport4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/coxsbazarairport2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/gmggcoxsbazar.jpg

Tmac

February 2nd, 2008, 07:51 PM

here are some old photos of Jessore Airport I had posted earlier.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/JessoreAirport.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/Dhaka1/jessoreairport3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/Dhaka1/jessoreairport4.jpg

Tmac

February 2nd, 2008, 07:59 PM

here is an old photo of Barisal Airport I had posted earlier.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/Dhaka/Dhaka1/Dhaka2/barisalairport.jpg

Tmac

February 2nd, 2008, 08:01 PM

few interesting photos I had posted earlier.

Old Tejgaon Airport

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/Bangladesh/bangladesh1/daccaairport.jpg

Dhaka International Airport - photo taken in 1983 before the expansion and modernisation.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/Bangladesh/bangladesh1/dhakaairport48.jpg

iasif

February 2nd, 2008, 09:01 PM

While what you state is probably true, Bangladesh being a country where the government is your Ma Baap, who is not only incompetent but an arrogant know it all, the only way to bring about positive change, to my mind, would be to try to educate them through the media.

Why don't you inform them and the public as to what is wrong in their past and current ASAs and how should new ones be done?

Since May 2006 till date, I have penned 11 articles on Biman/CAAB...10 of which came out on The Daily Star and the 11th on New Age. I haven't seen ANY action being taken by anyone at the Govt. and/or at CAAB in what is almost 2 years now.

I've always tried to be provocative through my articles, but have to admit that I've so far had a dismal performance at that...since nothing that I wrote could really provoke these people I had in mind!

A friend of mine once opined that these people don't act and/or react simply because they don't read and/or comprehend what is written...oh well!

The hapless writer that I am, will continue to write nevertheless. :)

Tmac

February 2nd, 2008, 09:08 PM

GMG spreads wings to Dubai from today

GMG Airlines, the country's largest and leading private airline, launches its Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka service from today (Sunday).

The flight, a 747-300 Boeing aircraft, will leave Dhaka for Dubai at 2:15pm.

Chief Adviser's Special Assistant for Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Jamil is likely to inaugurate the GMG's maiden Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka flight at Zia International Airport as chief guest.

With GMG Airlines launching Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka service, the airlines sources said the new airline would play an important role in giving Bangladesh tourism a much-needed boost.

The GMG Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the GMG Group of Companies, has started its operation to the Middle East with a daily flight to Dubai.

The sources at GMG Airlines, operating domestic, regional, and international services, said that they would launch passenger services to Singapore, Kuwait, Muscat, and Karachi in May 2008, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dammam, Riyadh, and Jeddah in December 2008, and make its European debut with flights to London Heathrow and Milan in the 1st quarter of 2009.

GMG Airlines is the first and only private airline in Bangladesh flying overseas. The airline has 216 flights each week worldwide, while it flies over 8,100 seats internationally per week.

The airline was established in 1997 and started operations on April 6, 1998. It is wholly owned by the industrial conglomerate GMG Group. GMG's current international destinations are Kolkata, Delhi, Kathmandu, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. It began with domestic operations and launched international services on September 8, 2004, with a service from Chittagong to Kolkata. GMG began regular flights to Bangkok, Delhi, and Kathmandu on October 20, 2006. It started services to Kuala Lumpur on January 24, 2007.

GMG Airlines operates services to the following destinations:

In Bangladesh, Barisal (Barisal Airport), Chittagong (Shah Amanat International Airport), Cox's Bazar (Cox's Bazar Airport), Dhaka (Zia International Airport), Jessore (Jessore Airport), Sylhet (Osmani International Airport).

In South Asia, the airline operates flights to Kolkata (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport), New Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport), Kathmandu, Nepal (Tribhuvan International Airport). It will start flight operations to Karachi, Pakistan (Jinnah International Airport) this year.

In Southeast Asia, GMG Airlines has planned to operate flights to Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport), Singapore (Singapore Changi Airport), Kuwait (Kuwait International Airport), Muscat (Seeb International Airport), Doha (Doha International Airport), Dammam (King Fahd International Airport), Jeddah (King Abdulaziz International Airport), Riyadh (King Khalid International Airport), Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Dubai International Airport), Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi International Airport), Milan, Italy (Malpensa International Airport), London, United Kingdom (London Heathrow Airport).

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/02/03/news0682.htm

Moin

February 2nd, 2008, 09:43 PM

United Airways is planing to operate in DAC - CCU & DAC - KTM route from March.

http://www.jaijaidin.com/details.php?nid=52839

TIslam

February 3rd, 2008, 02:02 AM

United Airways is planing to operate in DAC - CCU & DAC - KTM route from March.

Good for United Airways! But I wonder whether those sectors are getting crowded, already.
:cheers:

TIslam

February 3rd, 2008, 02:13 AM

Since May 2006 till date, I have penned 11 articles on Biman/CAAB...10 of which came out on The Daily Star and the 11th on New Age. I haven't seen ANY action being taken by anyone at the Govt. and/or at CAAB in what is almost 2 years now.

I've always tried to be provocative through my articles, but have to admit that I've so far had a dismal performance at that...since nothing that I wrote could really provoke these people I had in mind!

A friend of mine once opined that these people don't act and/or react simply because they don't read and/or comprehend what is written...oh well!

The hapless writer that I am, will continue to write nevertheless. :)

In that case ... time to form a nonprofit action/policy group to promote and protect aviation and tourism in Bangladesh, like CPD. You may have noticed that the government has (had) been compelled to react to CPD's initiatives/press conferences, from time to time, when the heat became unbearable. If you take the initiative, I'm sure you'll find a good number of people who would like to join your endeavor.

You certainly have my (moral) support (being overseas, that's all I can do).

amar11372

February 3rd, 2008, 03:07 AM

GMG Airlines operates services to the following destinations:

In Bangladesh, Barisal (Barisal Airport), Chittagong (Shah Amanat International Airport), Cox's Bazar (Cox's Bazar Airport), Dhaka (Zia International Airport), Jessore (Jessore Airport), Sylhet (Osmani International Airport).

In South Asia, the airline operates flights to Kolkata (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport), New Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport), Kathmandu, Nepal (Tribhuvan International Airport). It will start flight operations to Karachi, Pakistan (Jinnah International Airport) this year.

In Southeast Asia, GMG Airlines has planned to operate flights to Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport), Singapore (Singapore Changi Airport), Kuwait (Kuwait International Airport), Muscat (Seeb International Airport), Doha (Doha International Airport), Dammam (King Fahd International Airport), Jeddah (King Abdulaziz International Airport), Riyadh (King Khalid International Airport), Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Dubai International Airport), Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi International Airport), Milan, Italy (Malpensa International Airport), London, United Kingdom (London Heathrow Airport).

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/02/03/news0682.htm

Did GMG overtake Biman in number of destination? Also why doesn't GMG fly to USA? since USA doesn't have flag carrier, wouldn't the air service agreement between USA and BD state one aircraft from each country can fly into each respected country. GMG could have fill up the slots since Biman stopped flying there. Same thing with London.

saad_hawk

February 3rd, 2008, 03:22 AM

Thanks for the pics and the vdo guys...really its about time we got one 747

iasif

February 3rd, 2008, 05:20 AM

In that case ... time to form a nonprofit action/policy group to promote and protect aviation and tourism in Bangladesh, like CPD. You may have noticed that the government has (had) been compelled to react to CPD's initiatives/press conferences, from time to time, when the heat became unbearable. If you take the initiative, I'm sure you'll find a good number of people who would like to join your endeavor.

You certainly have my (moral) support (being overseas, that's all I can do).

Done that too! I've been involved with Transparency International Bangladesh regarding Biman, and they're supposed to be submitting a recommendation paper to the GoB soon, following our last meeting held on 29th December, 2007 with reprsentatives from Biman as well as other relevant areas.

As for other policymaking issues, I'm working on my through my own little network to see if I can bring about some change for good. Looking quite okay so far!

iasif

February 3rd, 2008, 05:31 AM

Did GMG overtake Biman in number of destination? Also why doesn't GMG fly to USA? since USA doesn't have flag carrier, wouldn't the air service agreement between USA and BD state one aircraft from each country can fly into each respected country. GMG could have fill up the slots since Biman stopped flying there. Same thing with London.

Bangladesh doesn't have a proper ASA with the US. It has what is called an "Exemption Permit to BG", signed in 1993, and only allowed to land in JFK. I'm not sure if this permit is valid today anymore, following Biman's withdrawal of JFK service. Last I heard that the US authorities had given a deadline dated October 2007 for either BG to resume services or to lose the slot there for an indefinite period.

As for UK, the ASA would require GMG to get designated, which isn't a problem. The 5th freedom traffic rights with UK are pretty good too, though Biman wouldn't be too happy to lose them to anyone!

TIslam

February 3rd, 2008, 05:41 AM

Done that too! I've been involved with Transparency International Bangladesh regarding Biman, and they're supposed to be submitting a recommendation paper to the GoB soon, following our last meeting held on 29th December, 2007 with reprsentatives from Biman as well as other relevant areas.

As for other policymaking issues, I'm working on my through my own little network to see if I can bring about some change for good. Looking quite okay so far!

That's positive news. Keep up the good work, sir!

TIslam

February 3rd, 2008, 05:44 AM

Bangladesh doesn't have a proper ASA with the US. It has what is called an "Exemption Permit to BG", signed in 1993, and only allowed to land in JFK. I'm not sure if this permit is valid today anymore, following Biman's withdrawal of JFK service. Last I heard that the US authorities had given a deadline dated October 2007 for either BG to resume services or to lose the slot there for an indefinite period.

As for UK, the ASA would require GMG to get designated, which isn't a problem. The 5th freedom traffic rights with UK are pretty good too, though Biman wouldn't be too happy to lose them to anyone!

Shouldn't Bangladesh initiate an ASA with US?

Skyprince

February 3rd, 2008, 06:55 AM

iasif

February 3rd, 2008, 08:18 AM

Shouldn't Bangladesh initiate an ASA with US?

Well, Bangladesh definitely should, but I'm not too sure if US would be willing! JFK and IAD are pretty much topped up, and with Biman's schedule records I don't think the US authorities would be very generous. Bangladesh has also been pursuing an ASA with Canada for a pretty long time now, only to be turned down by the Canadians.

The fact is, Bangladesh severely lacks diplomatic capabilities essential in commanding respect over the negotiation tables. And this is a very, very serious shortfall in the part of our nation.

iasif

February 3rd, 2008, 08:30 AM

Thanks Tmac for the pics,

Another question ( Urgent ! ) to everybody: My friend in Dhaka plans to travel to Bangkok in 3 weeks... how much is the cheapest air ticket ( return ) inclusive of all taxes, and which travel agency in Dhaka should he book his flights ? I think Druk Air has special price ?

If your friend is travelling alone, I think the cheapest fare is by Druk Air @ BDT 14,200 (I could be wrong, though). GMG has their buy-1-get-1-free offer on which is also an option to look at.

As for travel agencies, I don't know too many. The two that I use are Maas Travels & Tours and Travelscene.

Skyprince

February 3rd, 2008, 08:37 AM

^^ Thanks iasif, its very useful. Anyway, is Tk 14,200 inclusive of all tax /fuel charge ? And is it return ? How about GMG fare ( inclusive of all ) ?

iasif

February 3rd, 2008, 08:43 AM

^^ Thanks iasif, its very useful. Anyway, is Tk 14,200 inclusive of all tax /fuel charge ? And is it return ? How about GMG fare ( inclusive of all ) ?

I'm not sure if its inclusive of taxes, etc. but is a return fare. The GMG fare is also under BDT 15,000 per pax if you buy 2 tickets together. Your friend should call up an agency and find out the details. Both Druk Air and GMG have their offices on the same road (Kemal Ataturk Avenue) as well, so it wouldn't be too much of a task for him to drop by.

Tmac

February 3rd, 2008, 08:47 AM

TIslam

February 3rd, 2008, 07:43 PM

Well, Bangladesh definitely should, but I'm not too sure if US would be willing! JFK and IAD are pretty much topped up, and with Biman's schedule records I don't think the US authorities would be very generous. Bangladesh has also been pursuing an ASA with Canada for a pretty long time now, only to be turned down by the Canadians.

The fact is, Bangladesh severely lacks diplomatic capabilities essential in commanding respect over the negotiation tables. And this is a very, very serious shortfall in the part of our nation.

That smacks of unfairness! While the Canadian and US carriers may not be interested in flying to Dhaka, why should that deprive the other side, if they are ready, willing and able? Forget Biman, but the private airlines should be able to operate on a consistent basis.

I wouldn't pin much hope on our diplomats or the foreign ministry to do anything fruitful. All I can say is that if GMG and others, over time, become viable enough to begin service to US, they would employ all available tools, methods and resources, to bring about an ASA or whatever it will take to fly to JFK (IAD/YYZ).

Moin

February 3rd, 2008, 08:00 PM

GMG Airlines has started flying to Dubai from today.

http://www.jaijaidin.com/details.php?nid=53009

To see the pic. Click: http://www.jaijaidin.com/details.php?nid=52996

iasif

February 3rd, 2008, 08:54 PM

That smacks of unfairness! While the Canadian and US carriers may not be interested in flying to Dhaka, why should that deprive the other side, if they are ready, willing and able?

Well, from another point, that's only fair...if you look at it from their (US/Canada) points of view! ASA's are generally meant to take into consideration MUTUAL interests/benefits of the 2 countries involved. Of course there can be, and there are, exceptions. Some countries may be just that bit 'generous' to go for an ASA solely at the other country's interest. And then there are ones which are done based on 'political' or 'economical' benefits and not directly on air traffic feasibility. Both these options require a certain degree of negotiation capability, an element almost completely absent in the people who are bestowed with the authorities to do it for Bangladesh.

Most of the the diplomats, bureaucrats, and of course the politicians are so lame these days in Bangladesh that they will get sold to the demands of the stronger nations and won't even ask for a price...if you know what I mean!

TIslam

February 4th, 2008, 01:41 AM

Most of the the diplomats, bureaucrats, and of course the politicians are so lame these days in Bangladesh that .....

What do you mean "these days"? Haven't they always been lame? Show me a politician do has made significant contribution to the country, post independence, and if you so believe, then I have a Brooklyn bridge that I would like to sell to you.

iasif

February 4th, 2008, 06:38 AM

What do you mean "these days"? Haven't they always been lame? Show me a politician do has made significant contribution to the country, post independence, and if you so believe, then I have a Brooklyn bridge that I would like to sell to you.

Well, what I meant to say was that even till the end of the 80s, there were a fair number of bureaucrats who knew their job. They were educated, knowledgeable, and balanced people who could "learn" by themselves when they were assigned to take charge of something important.

Politicians in this country, however, have been and still are very consistent! Consistent in being a part of everything that's evil...and far from anything good.

Getting back to planes, the Airbus folks are due in town pretty soon...within a day or two. Now only if Biman can take a DECISION soon after that comparing the offers from 2 manufacturers! On another note, The Daily Star quoted Mr. Shahab Sattar, MD of GMG Airlines as saying that his airline will soon be adding Boeing 777s and 787s to its fleet.

By the beancounters rule, the chances of us seeing truly "new" airplanes for our airlines are higher than ever at the moment! :)

bromora

February 4th, 2008, 12:00 PM

Shouldn't Bangladesh initiate an ASA with US?

There is a fat chance of that happening now. If Biman have lost the JFK slot indefinitely, then it'll be a long time before any BD carriers enter US airspace. The FAA don't think much of the CAAB and have classified BD into Category 2 of its International Aviation Safety Assessment which means the FAA does not have faith in the oversight of CAAB.

Tmac

February 4th, 2008, 07:59 PM

Dhaka Zia International Airport

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/Bangladesh/bangladesh1/Bangladesh2/Bangladesh3/dhakaairport184.jpg

iasif

February 4th, 2008, 08:25 PM

BREAKING NEWS!

Confirmed unofficially, Biman finally got exempted from having to follow the Public Procurement Regulation 2003 (better known as 'PPR 2003') devised and imposed by The World Bank for all public procurements by the GoB.

This exemption means that Biman will now be able to shop for airplanes at will, without going through tenders, and directly from any sources it likes. It was the mandatory and tedious tendering procedures as prescribed in the PPR-2003 that had encouraged corruption at Biman, deprived it from receiving offers from genuine suppliers, and paralysed its ability to shop directly for best buys.

I have long been screaming to rescue Biman out of it, and seems like it finally worked (No wonder my wife gets everything done her way....hmmm)!

Here are the 2 articles (in chronological order) in which I had explicitly opposed Biman having to follow PPR-2003:
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/09/14/d609141501133.htm
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/05/12/d705121502107.htm

:cheers:

Tmac

February 4th, 2008, 09:09 PM

iasif

February 4th, 2008, 10:40 PM

what does it really mean Asif? Does it mean Biman will go ahead and get some new aircrafts?

It means, for example:

- Biman can lease aircraft from a potential lessor (e.g. Corsair, Air Atlanta Icelandic, etc.) directly and negotiate on a 1-on-1 basis rather than floating a tender and thereby having to deal with other agents/brokers (e.g. Ausban Aeronautical) and eventually have to accept aircraft at exorbitant lease rates (as it had been in the last 3 Hajj seasons) or accept sub-standard aircraft (as had been offered by Logistic Air, et al in the past)

- Biman can choose to lease/purchase any aircraft it likes without having to unnecessarily make a comparison with other offers, as had been prescribed in the PPR-2003, and therefore make the process unnecessarily tedious

- it can make its own judgement and decision to lease/purchase aircraft based on their performace and suitability to Biman's network, and NOT just based on prices offered (as again precribed in PPR-2003)

The PPR-2003 (and its regulations) has been the single-most important reason why the genuine (and actual) lessors of good aircraft chose not to respond to a single tender by Biman in the last 5 years. Like for Hajj, Corsair/Air Atlanta Icelandic never opted to offer Biman directly and worked through Ausban, eventually leaving Biman with no choice but to accept the aircraft at rates of up to 50% higher than what they could've managed if they could negotiate directly.

Airbus is due to put in their proposal to Biman today (5th Jan), and with PPR-2003 out of the way, Biman can choose to get either Boeing or Airbus depending on the aircraft's suitability for Biman, and not just based on lowest prices offered.

The regulations under PPR-2003 implicitly forces the buyer to make a purchase decision based on acquisition costs only, and not counting in factors like operating costs, residual values, etc. which are extremely important, particularly for the nature of airline business.

kodbel

February 5th, 2008, 12:56 AM

It means, for example:

- Biman can lease aircraft from a potential lessor (e.g. Corsair, Air Atlanta Icelandic, etc.) directly and negotiate on a 1-on-1 basis rather than floating a tender and thereby having to deal with other agents/brokers (e.g. Ausban Aeronautical) and eventually have to accept aircraft at exorbitant lease rates (as it had been in the last 3 Hajj seasons) or accept sub-standard aircraft (as had been offered by Logistic Air, et al in the past)

- Biman can choose to lease/purchase any aircraft it likes without having to unnecessarily make a comparison with other offers, as had been prescribed in the PPR-2003, and therefore make the process unnecessarily tedious

- it can make its own judgement and decision to lease/purchase aircraft based on their performace and suitability to Biman's network, and NOT just based on prices offered (as again precribed in PPR-2003)

The PPR-2003 (and its regulations) has been the single-most important reason why the genuine (and actual) lessors of good aircraft chose not to respond to a single tender by Biman in the last 5 years. Like for Hajj, Corsair/Air Atlanta Icelandic never opted to offer Biman directly and worked through Ausban, eventually leaving Biman with no choice but to accept the aircraft at rates of up to 50% higher than what they could've managed if they could negotiate directly.

Airbus is due to put in their proposal to Biman today (5th Jan), and with PPR-2003 out of the way, Biman can choose to get either Boeing or Airbus depending on the aircraft's suitability for Biman, and not just based on lowest prices offered.

The regulations under PPR-2003 implicitly forces the buyer to make a purchase decision based on acquisition costs only, and not counting in factors like operating costs, residual values, etc. which are extremely important, particularly for the nature of airline business.

There is now great potential, but can the corrupt Biman officials stay away from unscrupulous deals and have the wit to determine factors like operating costs, residual values?

TIslam

February 5th, 2008, 04:19 AM

There is now great potential, but can the corrupt Biman officials stay away from unscrupulous deals and have the wit to determine factors like operating costs, residual values?

A very good and pertinent question posed by kodbel. What mechanisms are in place that shall prevent the Biman decision makers from engaging in malpractice?

amar11372

February 5th, 2008, 04:28 AM

^^ Being a state-owned enterprise, I doubt there are mechanisms to prevent malpractice. The Biman executives might go on a unnecessary shopping spree. Hopefully those executives are scared from the recent anti-corruption drive and wont go down that path again.

amar11372

February 5th, 2008, 04:57 AM

It seem like even United Airways introduced online booking.

http://www.unitedairwaysbd.com

Just hope with the addition of international destinations GMG will introduce online booking something in the near future.

iasif

February 5th, 2008, 05:12 AM

There is now great potential, but can the corrupt Biman officials stay away from unscrupulous deals and have the wit to determine factors like operating costs, residual values?

The next thing on the cards is to get Biman's Board of Directors restructured and its roles reassigned with greater degrees of accountability...which should happen pretty soon!

In the long term though, I'm not sure how it'll be once the political regime takes over. But before that happens, if the privatization process can be set rolling, it'd probably be out of reach of the political government as well for it to put its fingers into the pie.

TIslam

February 5th, 2008, 05:28 AM

^^ We'll be holding are collectively breath until then!

kodbel

February 5th, 2008, 08:57 PM

The next thing on the cards is to get Biman's Board of Directors restructured and its roles reassigned with greater degrees of accountability...which should happen pretty soon!

In the long term though, I'm not sure how it'll be once the political regime takes over. But before that happens, if the privatization process can be set rolling, it'd probably be out of reach of the political government as well for it to put its fingers into the pie.

That sounds promising. Even if Biman is privatised and changes it's image of a corrupt and failed airline to a competitive one in the international scene, who will rectify CAAB? I really don't see any light at the end of the path:ohno:....

iasif

February 5th, 2008, 09:51 PM

That sounds promising. Even if Biman is privatised and changes it's image of a corrupt and failed airline to a competitive one in the international scene, who will rectify CAAB? I really don't see any light at the end of the path:ohno:....

Allow me to hold a candle at the end of the tunnel for you!

I sincerely believe, for reasons withheld, that CAAB will get a major overhaul too in line with Biman's change of fate in the coming months. Getting back to Category 1 in the books of the FAA is the way to go, and every obstacle to the way should be turned into stepping stones.

:cheers:

TIslam

February 5th, 2008, 11:57 PM

Allow me to hold a candle at the end of the tunnel for you!

I sincerely believe, for reasons withheld, that CAAB will get a major overhaul too in line with Biman's change of fate in the coming months. Getting back to Category 1 in the books of the FAA is the way to go, and every obstacle to the way should be turned into stepping stones.

:cheers:

So you think that'll happen? What are the chances of getting back to Category 1? I hope to Zia or an another DAC world class airport and Biman and/or GMG another world class airline, in my lifetime.

I expected some heads to roll over the ZIA power outage fiasco. How naive of me! So, will my wishes come true? I wouldn't hold any candle to that (it'll get blown out repeatedly)!

iasif

February 6th, 2008, 05:30 AM

So you think that'll happen? What are the chances of getting back to Category 1? I hope to Zia or an another DAC world class airport and Biman and/or GMG another world class airline, in my lifetime.

I expected some heads to roll over the ZIA power outage fiasco. How naive of me! So, will my wishes come true? I wouldn't hold any candle to that (it'll get blown out repeatedly)!

Getting CAAB back to Category 1 isn't going to be the most difficult thing to do. The difficult job will rather be to KEEP IT THERE at Category 1 consistently, even through the political regimes. Unlike Biman, CAAB can't possibly be "privatized"!

A very tedious task, however, will be to update the CAR84. It'll almost have to rewritten page-by-page and will essentially be a whole new document!

As for the power outage, it was waiting to happen. And let me tell you that things MUCH WORSE are waiting to happen too (mid-air collisions in the worst case), unless the ATC insfrastucture is heavily overhauled soon.

Getting back to the issue of your dreams coming true, here's what you can expect in the short-term (<1 year):
- Biman to finally order new airplanes
- Biman to get its Board of Directors reconstituted
- The ball of privatization to at least get rolling for Biman, if not completed
- CAAB to get back to Category 1
:)

kodbel

February 6th, 2008, 09:56 PM

Skyprince

February 6th, 2008, 10:55 PM

^^ Err... " Muslim meal" is there too ?? Everything should be halal....

And ... since United Airways only serves domestic lines...in which flight time never exceeds 1 hour... is it possible to serve Meal ? :P

manbil777

February 7th, 2008, 04:44 AM

iasif

February 7th, 2008, 05:10 AM

United Airways should get an award for providing the most comprehensive meal options.
:nuts:
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/8451/unitedra7.png

Wonder who came up with options like "low residu, bland, gastric meal" ....

Their online booking looks good, considering they are the first in Bd to implement that. They don't accept any cards though, which make the whole process of online booking more or less useless!

Nah...not enough choice! What if I want "No meal", for example!

From the choices given, it seems like they're going to force-feed every passenger with some meal or the other, hungry or not!

And with so much food on offer, just imagine a flight parking into the gates upon arrival with a house-full of passengers still feasting...and then maybe they should put in a hand-wash thing somewhere along the forward galley, for the pax to queue up and wash their hands and then get off the plane with the FA's standing at the door with toothpicks and smiling faces!

Now, that's what I call a 5-star flying experience! :cheers: :nuts:

TIslam

February 7th, 2008, 05:48 AM

^^
If you ask me, I think these folks (the airlines) are getting carried away with their ads/websites. Although, way back when IA used to operate dac-ccu using F27s, we were served a huge amount of food that included sheek kebabs, samosas, and all. As a kid I relished every airline meal in those days but I remember, we could barely hold on to our meal trays, let alone eat, as we flew through a massive thunderstorm!

kodbel

February 7th, 2008, 08:00 PM

Nah...not enough choice! What if I want "No meal", for example!

From the choices given, it seems like they're going to force-feed every passenger with some meal or the other, hungry or not!

And with so much food on offer, just imagine a flight parking into the gates upon arrival with a house-full of passengers still feasting...and then maybe they should put in a hand-wash thing somewhere along the forward galley, for the pax to queue up and wash their hands and then get off the plane with the FA's standing at the door with toothpicks and smiling faces!

Now, that's what I call a 5-star flying experience! :cheers: :nuts:

Actually it's not a bad idea! Since there are so many competitors offering the same product, non-price competition can help get some market share.
Chittagongian's are known for being connoisseur of food, so maybe serving "Fokruddin's Biriyani" rather than drycake/sandwich and pran juice (Biman's domestic flight menu, not sure about the others) might make a difference!

iasif

February 7th, 2008, 09:15 PM

Actually it's not a bad idea! Since there are so many competitors offering the same product, non-price competition can help get some market share.
Chittagongian's are known for being connoisseur of food, so maybe serving "Fokruddin's Biriyani" rather than drycake/sandwich and pran juice (Biman's domestic flight menu, not sure about the others) might make a difference!

Hmmm...and how about...errr...'kodbel' for dessert?!?
(No pun intended!)
:lol:

kodbel

February 7th, 2008, 11:50 PM

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/8849/ziaor3.jpg

TIslam

February 8th, 2008, 03:56 AM

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/8849/ziaor3.jpg

Could somebody please translate? Thanks.

Skyprince

February 8th, 2008, 04:07 AM

I think this is probably the unaltered 'off the shelf' setting for the booking database (which is probably made in and customized for the Indian market).

I doubt very many Indian 'Jains' flying domestic flights in Bangladesh (witness the choice for Jain meal) -- and even if they did, where would you find the cooks to prepare these meals?? Obviously out-of-place here, no doubt.

In any case -- UNITED are a long way from refining their website.

RE: @skyprince -- most of the local flights I've been on in Bangladesh are less than an hour and yes -- the most you get is juice, soda-pop (coke etc.) and a small packaged snack (confection of some sort). Which is better than most five hour flights in the US these days. One flight I took from LAX to JFK recently -- they were offering sandwiches for five bucks :-)

The OJ and sodas were free however...

5 hr-flights in the US without food served ? I can't imagine how everybodys starving on the plane. In my place , a complete meal ( e.g. Rice with chicken curry ) is served in all domestic lines more than 1 hour by full-service airline. Travelling by LCC is better cuz by paying $2-$3 you get huge portion of delicious meals .

I think if 45-mins Dhaka-Chittagong with small fleets like ATR or Fokker then it's possible to serve meals since there are few pax on board and only lil time required to serve everyone with meals. But I think everybody will object this as exrbitant food price is included in the airfare.

iasif

February 8th, 2008, 09:32 AM

1. The runway ligting at ZIA is inadequate/insufficient, ill-planned, and outdated.

2. Many of the lights installed are out of service anyway, so obstacles are not the only reason why pilots of inbound aircraft can't see the lights!

Putting fencing around won't solve the problem. The whole airport lacks security, including perimeter security which exposes the aircraft to dangerous propositions. CAAB, however, may not realize the importance of this unless something horrible happens...and we'll then find these people shitting in their pants.

If the airfield lighting system is improved, and proper security is put into place, they won't need unnecessary and ineffective "fencing" which is the most primitive form of security as far as international airports are concerned.

Moin

February 8th, 2008, 12:26 PM

click the following links

http://www.jaijaidin.com/details.php?nid=52996

http://www.atlanta.is/

iasif

February 8th, 2008, 12:29 PM

Airbus made its proposal to Biman through the past couple of days, offering A320/321 and A330-200/-300 and from what I hear they were dismal.

Biman is leasing 2 747s pretty soon, and are shopping for 2-4 B777-200ERs to take on lease until the new B777s and B787s gets delivered by Boeing.

In case Biman fails to find the B777s on lease by themselves, they'll settle with taking the lease option from Boeing for 777s and 787s beginning from the end of 2009 and operate them until the new build 777s and 787s get delivered from 2013 through 2017.

Its a matter of time now (max. ~45 days) until the order with Boeing gets announced. The initial number of frames may be less than 8 (as originally planned) but will probably include options for BG to exercise later.

bromora

February 8th, 2008, 01:38 PM

Thanks for the breaking news again Imran bhai!

Its a matter of time now (max. ~45 days) until the order with Boeing gets announced. The initial number of frames may be less than 8 (as originally planned) but will probably include options for BG to exercise later.

I guess there's no chance that I'll be flying on a shiny new plane (by Biman's standards) on my way to BD in mid-March :ohno:

iasif

February 8th, 2008, 03:02 PM

I didn't notice it earlier because the registration has changed with the change of ownership, but GMG's first 747-300 (CN # 23028, Line # 584) previously owned by Corsair before Air Atlanta Icelandic bought it up, is the very, very famous Jumbo which wore the registration F-GSEX!

Check out these pics of her from the past, and the remarks by the photographers:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0199911&photo_nr=69&prev_id=0200356&next_id=0199126
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0228623&photo_nr=65&prev_id=0229708&next_id=0208622
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0230837&photo_nr=63&prev_id=0235967&next_id=0229708
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0587559&photo_nr=34&prev_id=0595609&next_id=0540007
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0617565&photo_nr=29&prev_id=0620195&next_id=0606995
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0892183&photo_nr=11&prev_id=0900343&next_id=0891627
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0942562&photo_nr=7&prev_id=0957909&next_id=0914646
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1015525&photo_nr=3&prev_id=1016533&next_id=1012302

Tmac

February 8th, 2008, 05:00 PM

click the following links

http://www.jaijaidin.com/details.php?nid=52996

http://www.atlanta.is/

thanks Moin. 747 looks nice!

Tmac

February 8th, 2008, 05:01 PM

amar11372

February 8th, 2008, 11:07 PM

TIslam

February 8th, 2008, 11:52 PM

iasif

February 9th, 2008, 09:02 AM

So.. Imran Biman actually finalized its deal with Boeing?

Yes, my question too, Imran. And who's footing the bill? Has GOB signed (or will sign) the Capetown protocol?

What I wonder though, since Biman has to wet lease the "new" aircrafts whether 747 or 777, what happens to their DC10 cockpit crew? They just sit and collect a paycheck? As it is, rumour has it that quite a few Biman's cockpit crew are moonlighting while being on active payroll.

No, it hasn't finalized the deal with Boeing yet...that's just what is expected to happen in about 45 days.

In the meantime, GoB is expected to begin the procedures for ratifying the Capetown Convention and Aircraft Protocol, which should allow Biman to sign up the MoU with Boeing, to be followed by a Firm Contract shortly after.

DC-10 (and maybe some A310) cockpit crews will be trained by Boeing to be rated for the 777s and 787s. However, the ones to come on lease will probably be wet for about 1 year until Biman has its own crews ready.

kodbel

February 10th, 2008, 01:58 AM

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5726/89446193gl6.jpg

The article states that, CAAB officials (along with their families :) ) have flown to Delhi to consider doubling the weekly flights between India & BD from 30 to 60. Biman is opposing this move.

My question is, isn't it a bilateral deal enabling operators from both countries to increase frequency?
Without connecting pax, do Dhaka really have enough pax to fill up 60 flights a week to India? I doubt it, and therefore only the indian carriers will enjoy the additional frequency.

So, like any other decision, it all ends up as Bd in the losers side. Even if Biman is modernised and start afresh, noncooperation by other quarters is making the future prospect of Bd's carriers bleak.:ohno:

TIslam

February 10th, 2008, 02:51 AM

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/5726/89446193gl6.jpg
The article states that, CAAB officials (along with their families :) ) have flown to Delhi to consider doubling the weekly flights between India & BD from 30 to 60. Biman is opposing this move.

My question is, isn't it a bilateral deal enabling operators from both countries to increase frequency?
Without connecting pax, do Dhaka really have enough pax to fill up 60 flights a week to India? I doubt it, and therefore only the indian carriers will enjoy the additional frequency.

So, like any other decision, it all ends up as Bd in the losers side. Even if Biman is modernised and start afresh, noncooperation by other quarters is making the future prospect of Bd's carriers bleak.:ohno:

Why would you discount "connecting" passengers? If there aren't enough direct (point to point) flights from Dhaka to other nations, why should the passenger suffer? Putting up artificial barriers to help Biman, won't help Biman, the aviation industry or, the traveling public, in the long run.

kodbel

February 10th, 2008, 03:09 AM

amar11372

February 10th, 2008, 04:11 AM

I am looking from a Bangladeshi carrier's view, and they haven't got the network and frequency to compete with the Indian carriers. So, if you count connecting passenger market, it's all Indian. I guess you got my point; limited frequency between India and Bangladesh acts as a limit for the Indian carriers and an advantage for Bd.
One can argue that this advantage doesn't help a firm to be efficient, but the indian carriers also have an advantage of huge funds from their investors! So, bd's carriers do need this advantage to start up.

Well GMG seems to be Chugging Along even with the massive competition. I believe they will continue to do so. In my opinion Biman is a "bottomless basket". They had all the support of BD govt and huge subsidy. From now on Biman should Not receive any advantages.

TIslam

February 10th, 2008, 04:23 AM

I am looking from a Bangladeshi carrier's view, and they haven't got the network and frequency to compete with the Indian carriers. So, if you count connecting passenger market, it's all Indian. I guess you got my point; limited frequency between India and Bangladesh acts as a limit for the Indian carriers and an advantage for Bd.
One can argue that this advantage doesn't help a firm to be efficient, but the indian carriers also have an advantage of huge funds from their investors! So, bd's carriers do need this advantage to start up.

Do you know the saying that has to do with the burning of nine maund oil and Radha dancing? In the same vein, how long do you propose to protect the local guys? In the meanwhile, the Indians shall be galloping ahead and have even deeper pockets, leaving the local carriers decades behind.

iasif

February 10th, 2008, 05:43 AM

The article states that, CAAB officials (along with their families :) ) have flown to Delhi to consider doubling the weekly flights between India & BD from 30 to 60. Biman is opposing this move.

My question is, isn't it a bilateral deal enabling operators from both countries to increase frequency?
Without connecting pax, do Dhaka really have enough pax to fill up 60 flights a week to India? I doubt it, and therefore only the indian carriers will enjoy the additional frequency.

So, like any other decision, it all ends up as Bd in the losers side. Even if Biman is modernised and start afresh, noncooperation by other quarters is making the future prospect of Bd's carriers bleak.:ohno:

I am looking from a Bangladeshi carrier's view, and they haven't got the network and frequency to compete with the Indian carriers. So, if you count connecting passenger market, it's all Indian. I guess you got my point; limited frequency between India and Bangladesh acts as a limit for the Indian carriers and an advantage for Bd.
One can argue that this advantage doesn't help a firm to be efficient, but the indian carriers also have an advantage of huge funds from their investors! So, bd's carriers do need this advantage to start up.

Do you know the saying that has to do with the burning of nine maund oil and Radha dancing? In the same vein, how long do you propose to protect the local guys? In the meanwhile, the Indians shall be galloping ahead and have even deeper pockets, leaving the local carriers decades behind.

I'm choosing to be blunt here:
1. The Civil Aviation Secy is acting like a prostitute...read my lips...P R O S T I T U T E!
2. Chairman, CAAB is shamefully being a shrimp...as spineless as it is.

If Mir Nasir was the worst thing ever to happen to Biman and civil aviation in BD, this Secy is catching him up fast. I'm so pissed that I don't even care being quoted to have said any of these!

I don't know what amendments will be made to the current agreements (frequencies, freedom rights, etc.) but India already has 5th freedom rights to Kuala Lumpur and Penang through Dhaka and I expect AI or 9W to soon start doing that, and leave the BD airlines high and dry.

To answer 'kodbel'...any Sir Service Agreement is always bilateral, and allows frequencies, freedom rights to designated carriers of both countries....so, yes any addition/amendment of frequencies/freedom rights will also be reciprocally entitled to BD airlines as well as the Indian ones. But the point is, in order to amend an existing ASA with greater frequencies/rights, BOTH countries should have an interest.

As for Bangladesh, it does not have ANY reason whatsoever to do that right now simply because the current capacity isn't used up at the first place as far as BD airlines are concerned, whereas the Indian carriers are fast expanding regionally. BD should only respond to amend the ASA with India when our airlines will have enough capacity to use such amendments.

And its sickening me to see that these 'officials' are GOING OVER TO INDIA to amend ASA at INDIA's request...and that too with their families! I'm only suprised they flew on GMG and not on AI or 9W after all!! :bash:

TIslam

February 10th, 2008, 06:29 AM

^^
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the decision maker be the Adviser (minister) in-charge of civil aviation? Where is he on this?

kodbel

February 10th, 2008, 12:26 PM

How are the exisiting flights between India and Dac doing? Load factors are very confidential info but Asif Bhai must have some insider info :)

I only have figures for the first 15 days of 9W's service to DAC, and they don't look pretty. CCU-DAC-CCU and DEL-DAC-DEL only had 36.8 and 34.2 respectively. They must have improved by now!!

iasif

February 10th, 2008, 07:31 PM

^^
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the decision maker be the Adviser (minister) in-charge of civil aviation? Where is he on this?

The proceedings for this has been going on for quite a while now, and I'm not sure if Mr. Mahbub Jamil is aware of the details of this. I have great degree of respect for him, and I trust it hasn't gone through with his conscientious approval. If it did, I'd be very, very disappointed.

I'm pissed at the whole issue for 2 reasons: (i) the amendment at the inappropriate time, favouring Indian carriers only; and (ii) the way our 'officials' went running to India to do it merrily wagging their tails. It's an insult to the nation...I'm certain the Indian officials out there were rolling on the floor laughing their asses off thinking about the kind of scums we have here in BD spearheading the policymaking and regulatory authorities!

How are the exisiting flights between India and Dac doing? Load factors are very confidential info but Asif Bhai must have some insider info :)

I only have figures for the first 15 days of 9W's service to DAC, and they don't look pretty. CCU-DAC-CCU and DEL-DAC-DEL only had 36.8 and 34.2 respectively. They must have improved by now!!

I don't have exact figures, but both their CCU-DAC-CCU and DEL-DAC-DEL are now doing over 60% steadily. 9W didn't do any significant media hype with their launch, and I believe their strategy is to let the passengers slowly find out about the product they offer and realize its superiority over the competition. 9W is pretty well-known for its quality around the world now, but it wasn't so in case of many Bangladeshi travellers who are just beginning to find out.

9W's scheduling of the flights and utilization of equipment is superb. They do the CCU-DAC-DEL-DAC-CCU on 3 days of the week, and the flights to Delhi connects to their London flight nicely. The only area to improve is at the Delhi airport to provide for smooth connection. Mumbai and Delhi airports have a notorious reputation for handling of transit/connecting passengers.

TIslam

February 10th, 2008, 08:04 PM

The proceedings for this has been going on for quite a while now, and I'm not sure if Mr. Mahbub Jamil is aware of the details of this. I have great degree of respect for him, and I trust it hasn't gone through with his conscientious approval. If it did, I'd be very, very disappointed.
.

Can't you (or your channels) make any noises about it to him or other relevant people? More than the material loss or gain, I agree with you the lack of dignity and the (in)appropriateness on the part of Bangladesh officials. If the Indians are so keen, let them work hard, real hard at it and keep coming to Dhaka.

snoq

February 10th, 2008, 09:27 PM

Note: Deleted as TMAC posted more graphic version of the news.

On current discussion: I have same question as TIslam has asked. It is so frustrating how indian money got into buying our officials.

Tmac

February 10th, 2008, 09:28 PM

United Airways to add two wide-bodied aircraft to fleet

http://www.thedailystar.net/photos/2008-02-11__bus02.jpg
An aircraft of local United Airways. The carrier is going to strengthen its fleet to compete on domestic and international routes.

United Airways is to add two wide-bodied aircraft to its fleet to operate on international routes.

“We have signed a letter of intent with a Singapore-based company to lease an Airbus, 310-300, last month,” said Captain Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury, chairman and managing director of United Airways (BD) Ltd.

A negotiation to lease a Boeing 747-300 is also in progress, he said.

However, the United Airways will lease the aircraft with an option to buy. “We may lease the aircraft for a period of 2-3 years and after the expiry of the lease we may buy the aircraft on instalment basis,” Tasbirul said.

“We have already submitted our proposals to the civil aviation ministry, seeking permission to operate flights on Dhaka-Dubai-London, Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka-Dubai and Chittagong-Dubai routes,” Tasbirul told The Daily Star.

“We can start international flights in three months after getting permission,” he said, adding: “ we are ready to operate flights on Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Katmandu routes as a new aircraft is expected to arrive by middle of this month.”

United has already purchased a Canadian made Dash 8-100 with a cost of around Tk35crore.

The private airline, a venture of the non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs), has purchased the new aircraft to increase the number of flights on the existing routes as well as launch new flights on other routes.

“We hope to start new flights with the second aircraft by mid-March this year. We are planning to launch new flights on Dhaka-Barisal route and additional flights on Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar, Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Jessore routes,” Tasbirul said.

The carrier, the first-ever public limited company in aviation sector, is now operating three flights on Dhaka- Chittagong, two flights on Dhaka- Sylhet, one flight on Dhaka-Jessore 7 days a week and three flights on Dhaka-Cox's Bazar a week.

Presently, there are some 600 shareholders of the United Airways, which started its operation in July last year. Most of the shareholders are NRBs living in the UK.

With authorised capital of Tk 100 crore, the company has plans to invest Tk 2000 crore over the next five years in the business, chairman and managing director of the company said.

At present, four private airlines are in operation on domestic routes. These are: GMG Airlines, United Airways, Best Aviation and Aviana Airways.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=22864

iasif

February 11th, 2008, 07:06 AM

Can't you (or your channels) make any noises about it to him or other relevant people? More than the material loss or gain, I agree with you the lack of dignity and the (in)appropriateness on the part of Bangladesh officials. If the Indians are so keen, let them work hard, real hard at it and keep coming to Dhaka.

I'm trying my best to do something about it. Let's see how things progress.

iasif

February 11th, 2008, 07:25 AM

United Airways to add two wide-bodied aircraft to fleet

Getting the A310-300 on lease to start international services is understandable, but if they're seriously planning to BUY the A310 and/or a B747-300 in the future, they could well be digging their own graves.

The international market trend forecasts are such that ALMOST ALL active 2nd generation jets (B747 classics, DC-10, A300/A310, et al) will be at the scrapyard by 2012. Only exceptions could be some in freighter operations.

The economics behind it is simple: these aircraft will be more valuable as 'beer cans' than flying machines, owing to the ever-soaring oil prices!

On another note, here's my latest literary effort on the 'inefficiency' factors of the local private airlines, published today (11th February, 2008) on The Financial Express. Original title for the piece was 'Business as Unusual', but FE chose to give it a lame one...ughh!
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=25094

Moin

February 11th, 2008, 10:02 PM

NEW DELHI: Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been asked by the Delhi Consumer Commission to pay Rs 4.5 lakh totally to 12 passengers, who were wrongfully denied seats in a flight for want of re-confirmation of tickets.

Holding the air carrier guilty of deficiency in service and unfair trade practice, the Commission said it was not justified on their part to deny seats to the complainants even as a large number of seats remained unoccupied in the flight.

"If the seats were available and had not been allotted to any other passenger, the airlines had no right to refuse the boarding on the plane," the Commission's President Justice J D Kapoor said recently in separate orders.

According to the complainants, they were not provided seats for their return journey from Bangkok to Delhi on April 17, 2004 on the premise that their tickets stood cancelled as they had failed in re-confirming their status 72 hours before the flight.

The Airlines cited the Warsaw Convention that accorded a right to an air carrier to cancel a passenger's ticket if a re-confirmation is not received 72 hours before the departure.

Rejecting the airline's argument, the Commission said they could not be allowed to keep a passenger on tenterhooks and loom the sword of cancellation large over his head under the garb of an unfriendly interpretation of the Convention.

"If such a cancelled seat is not allotted to any wait-listed passenger or in spite of there being large number of unoccupied seats, then such provision or convention amounts to unfair trade practice," it noted.

The passengers asked to be compensated for their discomfort are-- Surinder Singh, Ajeet Singh, Ashok Kumar, Vinay, Partap, Brijesh, Ved Prakash, Anup, Naresh, Om Babu and Vinod Kumar.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Bangladesh_airlines_told_to_pay_Rs_45_lakh_to_12_passengers/articleshow/2774493.cms

Moin

February 11th, 2008, 10:07 PM

UNB, Dhaka

Hundreds of employees of the national airlines who were allegedly forced to retire under the voluntary retirement scheme last year are preparing to file writ petitions with the High Court against the authorities of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd. A number of the employees told the news agency that they decided to file writ as the Biman management forced them to go on retirement under VRS last June.

Before the issuance of VRS last year, around 200 employees were either forced to retire or terminated. Most of them were learnt to be contemplating filing writ petitions with the High Court to get back their jobs. The High Court issued show-cause notices on the Biman managing director to explain why they were ‘terminated or forced to retire’.

The Biman authorities planned last year to cut 1,593 jobs in eight departments to squeeze its manpower to 3,400 from about 5,000. Accordingly, the authorities had invited applications from its employees willing to go on retirement under VRS on June 4 last year under the trimming plan. The eight departments are Customer Service, Engineering, Project and Planing, Administration, Finance, Store and purchase, Flight Operation, and marketing and sales. Till June 20 last year, 2,267 employees had submitted their applications. But, most of the employees alleged that they were made to sign printed VRS forms of retirement. As the number of applicants exceeded the number of planned job cuts, the government formed a committee, headed by the Biman managing director, to shortlist the applications.

The committee finalised a list of 1,877 employees of different Biman departments for voluntary retirement-euphemistically called golden handshake. A flight stewardess, requesting anonymity, said when she went to the office on June 20, she came to know that a list of 119 names of flight service department was hung on the notice board. She was allegedly told that she must sign VRS form or else lose her job without any benefit.

‘Like me, all of my colleagues, whose names were on the list, submitted VRS forms,’ she said. Another employee of the Customer Service Department said he was told that if he did not sign VRS form, he would lose his job and lose his service benefit too.

http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200802121737/business/aggrieved-biman-staff-move-court-to-get-back-jobs.html

iasif

February 11th, 2008, 10:30 PM

NEW DELHI: Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been asked by the Delhi Consumer Commission to pay Rs 4.5 lakh totally to 12 passengers, who were wrongfully denied seats in a flight for want of re-confirmation of tickets.

Assuming the incident is true...
Is it an example of poor service....YES
Is it an example of unfair trade practice...MAYBE
Is it illegal...NO

Every airline ticket is a 'contract' between the airline and the passenger, and if BG's tickets explicitly stated its adherence to Warsaw Convention, and the passengers have bought them conscientiously, I don't think BG has breached any law through that incident and should therefore not be charged for compensation in this ground.

On another note I have questions, well actually just one question, regarding the 'competency' of the Delhi Consumer Commission...for the simple reason that it took them almost THREE YEARS to finally give their verdict on this, albeit ambiguous!

I think Biman should respond to this by telling DCC: "Thank you for your hard work towards this verdict for almost 3 years...but no thanks!"

iasif

February 11th, 2008, 10:49 PM

TIslam

February 12th, 2008, 04:39 AM

Assuming the incident is true...
Is it an example of porr service....YES
Is it an example of unfair trade practice...MAYBE
Is it illegal...NO

Every airline ticket is a 'contract' between the airline and the passenger, and if BG's tickets explicitly stated its adherence to Warsaw Convention, and the passengers have bought them conscientiously, I don't think BG has breached any law through that incident and should therefore not be charged for compensation in this ground.

On another note I have questions, well actually just one question, regarding the 'competency' of the Delhi Consumer Commission...for the simple reason that it took them almost THREE YEARS to finally give their verdict on this, albeit ambiguous!

I think Biman should respond to this by telling DCC: "Thank you for your hard work towards this verdict for almost 3 years...but no thanks!"

Probably won't hold up in a court of law. Aren't there many airlines who still practice this 72 hours reconfirmation business? But I don't think the ticket becomes null and void? One can always fly standby or rebook, correct?

iasif

February 12th, 2008, 07:21 AM

Probably won't hold up in a court of law. Aren't there many airlines who still practice this 72 hours reconfirmation business? But I don't think the ticket becomes null and void? One can always fly standby or rebook, correct?

Exactly...just like I said, its definitely poor service on Biman's part but not a breach of law as it stands. If an airline requires reconfirmation under its policy, the passengers have to live with that or fly another airline. About the consequences of failing to re-confirm, I think the policies vary from one airline to another. And an airline can go out of its way for the convenience of the passengers if it wishes to, even if it is not legally obligated to do so.

I once got to reroute my ticket on SQ despite the fact that the ticket was originally issued as non-reroutable and I had used half the ticket already. They just did it because they thought they could do it to help me. These are the qualities that separate the excellent ones from good ones, good ones from just okay ones, and just okay ones from bad ones! :)

TIslam

February 12th, 2008, 06:09 PM

Exactly...
I once got to reroute my ticket on SQ despite the fact that the ticket was originally issued as non-reroutable and I had used half the ticket already. They just did it because they thought they could do it to help me. These are the qualities that separate the excellent ones from good ones, good ones from just okay ones, and just okay ones from bad ones! :)

I've had similar experience wih SQ. No wonder they are so highly rated. By the way, read your article in FE. I only hope the folks who run the private airlines, read FE and your article, for their sake!

manbil777

February 12th, 2008, 08:57 PM

A little late -- but RBA has started scheduled services on Jan. 31st. Their IATA code is 4A. The site has a flight booking engine similar to United Airways.

Apologies if this is old news.

The newsletter has some nice pics of the aircraft as well. Good luck and Godspeed to them!

http://www.royalbengalairline.com/newsFiles/more/royal_bengal_news_letter_jan2008.pdf

manbil777

February 13th, 2008, 07:57 AM

Getting the A310-300 on lease to start international services is understandable, but if they're seriously planning to BUY the A310 and/or a B747-300 in the future, they could well be digging their own graves.

The international market trend forecasts are such that ALMOST ALL active 2nd generation jets (B747 classics, DC-10, A300/A310, et al) will be at the scrapyard by 2012. Only exceptions could be some in freighter operations.

The economics behind it is simple: these aircraft will be more valuable as 'beer cans' than flying machines, owing to the ever-soaring oil prices!

On another note, here's my latest literary effort on the 'inefficiency' factors of the local private airlines, published today (11th February, 2008) on The Financial Express. Original title for the piece was 'Business as Unusual', but FE chose to give it a lame one...ughh!
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=25094

Imran Bhai,

1. Taking your line of reasoning a little further -- could some of the smaller late startups (Royal Bengal, United, Best Air et al) make a lot (or even some) dough flying medium length (~2000 NM) sectors like Dhaka -- Delhi, Dhaka -- BKK and Dhaka -- KUL?

2. In that case could a small jet like the ERJ-170/190/175/195 or equivalent CRJ be efficient enough (most of these are 70-100 seaters)? ERJ economics link,
http://www.embraercommercialjets.com.br/english/content/ejets/default.asp?tela=economics

3. Compared to the 'baby 737's' (737-600NG for example) and the baby airbuses (A318/319) what would you say are the economical tradeoffs/advantages in operating a CFM-56 engined airliner compared to CF-34 for ERJ/CRJ for these medium length legs? I know the thrust classes are different but I'd like your on-the-ground opinion for our Bangladesh-specific scenario...

saad_hawk

February 13th, 2008, 08:06 AM

did anybody geta chance to see what the GMG 747 looks like..i mean a really good picture. i have seena little at their intro website

manbil777

February 13th, 2008, 08:27 AM

From the little inkling I got -- seemed a little uninspired to me, sorry to say.

IMHO -- they need to consult a good Ad agency (identity consultant) and come up with a logo that captures the imagination for their target customer. Thai's logo was designed back in the 70's by a San Francisco ad agency. More recently -- our neighboring India's airlines had lots of new airlines with lots of new logos, even AI. It costs money I know -- but you have to plan it.

tanzirian

February 13th, 2008, 08:30 AM

Photos by Chankahon_Thai05: I believe they are all from Chittagong Shah Amanat:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/misc/chit1.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/misc/chit2.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/misc/chit3.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/misc/chit4.jpg

tanzirian

February 13th, 2008, 08:31 AM

More by Chankahon_Thai 05: Shah Amanat Intl:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/misc/chit5.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/misc/chit6.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/misc/chit7.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r94/tanzirian/misc/chit8.jpg

iasif

February 13th, 2008, 02:45 PM

Imran Bhai,

1. Taking your line of reasoning a little further -- could some of the smaller late startups (Royal Bengal, United, Best Air et al) make a lot (or even some) dough flying medium length (~2000 NM) sectors like Dhaka -- Delhi, Dhaka -- BKK and Dhaka -- KUL?

2. In that case could a small jet like the ERJ-170/190/175/195 or equivalent CRJ be efficient enough (most of these are 70-100 seaters)? ERJ economics link,
http://www.embraercommercialjets.com.br/english/content/ejets/default.asp?tela=economics

3. Compared to the 'baby 737's' (737-600NG for example) and the baby airbuses (A318/319) what would you say are the economical tradeoffs/advantages in operating a CFM-56 engined airliner compared to CF-34 for ERJ/CRJ for these medium length legs? I know the thrust classes are different but I'd like your on-the-ground opinion for our Bangladesh-specific scenario...

Answering these questions is what I do for my bread & butter, so by letting them out here I'll be choosing to stay 'unfed' voluntarily! So you better express parcel me a club sandwich, smoked chicken with double-cheese! :)

1. As for operating to DEL, BKK, and KUL from Dhaka, the question of making money would find its answer to the specific airline's competitiveness against its competitors. On DAC-DEL route a Bangladeshi airline will have to compete with AI and 9W; on DAC-BKK with TG and KB; and on DAC-KUL with MH (and of course with BG and Z5).

Since these routes won't warrant enough premium pax willing to pay extra for a better product, an airline would have to create the 'value' by offering lower fare prices. This is only doable if you can streamline overall operating costs as much as possible. With 40% duties on jet-fuel in Bangladesh, this is practically impossible...and is just the reason why I'm shouting at my loudest to have it gone for good.

2. From my personal experience, I've found ERJ's to be far, far more comformatble than the CRJ's to fly on and they're great airplanes altogether but if I'm not mistaken the CRJ's have operating costs which are tad bit lower than the ERJ 170/190 family. An airline could use the ERJ/CRJ's to the routes you mentioned as they're all within their range but I think using less than 100 seats would be uneconomical because of the higher CASM's. There's one major downside with the CRJ/ERJ compared to the Boeing 737NG or Airbus A320 families...that being the CRJ/ERJ's incapability to carry any revenue cargo. They can only take the pax and their baggages and are ideal for city pairs with little or no potential cargo payload available. But if you're going to do DAC-DEL/BKK/KUL you do have the potential for carrying cargo which can bring a lot of revenue for the airline and that's just why you'd probably opt to choose the planes I'm about to discuss next!

3. The Boeing 737-600/-700 and the A318/A319 are "too heavy" for their payload capacity and thus have a very high CASM compared to the 737-800/-900ER or the A320/A321. Most of the 737-600/-700 and A318/A319s are either used to/from hot & high airports, or on low-density routes requiring their range capabilities. Some of them would find use as business jets (BBJ, ACJ) but for most commercial airlines they wouldn't be as efficient/economical as the bigger members of their respective families.

The CFM/IAE other engines on the Boeing 737 or the Airbus A320 family would obviously burn more fuel per block hour than the powerplants on the CRJ's, but then these bigger planes can carry more passengers, and quite a bit of revenue cargo too. I think DEL, BKK, KUL can all offer enough passengers and cargo as well to justify a B737-800/-900 or the A320/A321, and is just the reason why even the low-cost carriers like Air Asia or Lion Air are opting for them.

At the end of the day, it is an airline's business plan and its relative/potential advantages over the competition that should drive the choice of aircraft.

manbil777

February 14th, 2008, 08:10 AM

Beautifully explained Imran Bhai -- all the best in your consultancy efforts :)

How about this ?? Sorry for the off-topic image...

http://designcommandcenter.com/photography/ClubSandwich.jpg

iasif

February 14th, 2008, 11:31 AM

Beautifully explained Imran Bhai -- all the best in your consultancy efforts :)

How about this ?? Sorry for the off-topic image...

http://designcommandcenter.com/photography/ClubSandwich.jpg

Now, that sure looks tempting...and is a very reasonable "payment" for the words! Food for thought as they call it!! :)

planemannyc

February 14th, 2008, 06:20 PM

AeroGeeK

February 14th, 2008, 06:37 PM

iasif

February 14th, 2008, 08:38 PM

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=35397

INDIA AND BANGLADESH SIGNED REVISED MOU ON AIR SERVICES AGREEMENT
16:12 IST
With a view to have detailed discussions in matters relating to the air services between the two countries, India and Bangladesh delegations held bilateral air services consultations on 11-13 February, 2008 in New Delhi.

The Indian delegation was led by Shri Ashok Chawla, Secretary (Civil Aviation). After detailed discussions both sides reached an agreement and an MOU was signed between the two sides. Both sides have agreed to further liberalize the existing SAARC offer and all existing caps for the operations of Bangladesh carriers to/from different points in India have been removed.

Now, the designated airlines of each side are entitled to operate 61 services per week in each direction to/from any points in each other’s territory specified in the Route Schedule with any type of aircraft, without any restriction or capping.

Also, in order to facilitate tourism, the designation airlines of both sides can operate any number of services to/from 18 tourist gateways in India viz. Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Port Blair, Kochi, Trivandrum, Kozikode, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli.

The Bangladesh side agreed to grant Sylhet in Bangladesh as an additional point of call for the Indian designated carriers.

In order to enhance the air services operations and to make the operations more commercially viable, the provision of co-operative marketing arrangement has been agreed. Another important outcome of these discussions is reflected in the form an agreement on cargo operations where the designated airlines of each side are entitled to operate 7 all–cargo services per week between each other’s territory with any type of aircraft.

I thought Chittagong was part of the old ASA. Is it now Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet (Indian news reports I think misunderstood the situation and are saying only DAC and ZYL fall under the new ASA or MOU).

So, would we expect to see 9W and AI to have flights from ZYL to DEL/CCU to connect to LON bound flights?

I am surprised that AI Express or 9W have not tried getting ME passengers from CGP.

Commenting on Imran Bhai's point, the new ASA does give an advantage to Indian carriers -- and their ability to connect to west bound flights (Europe/N. America / Middle East). The best that Bangladeshi carriers can do is have good east bound connections -- to KUL, HKG, SIN - and if AI-X or 9W can have full 5th Freedom flights to some of these destinations, Bangladeshi carriers will lose that advantage fast. Besides, other than GMG, no one else is yet flying any of those routes. And while BG is, do they know anything about competitive strategy and advantages? Does not seem so thus far.

Bangladeshi carriers are facing challenges on both fronts - domestic market has too many players, international market has formidable foreign competition. Something's gotta give. I see bankruptcy and consolidation. Not sure either will enough. By the way, good article in the FE, Imran Bhai (do you know if BestAir's 737's meet noise regulations in other countries other than BD? Does BD even have Cat 1 / 2 / 3 noise restrictions?)

Best.

Wasim

Its getting so sickening that I can hardly hold myself from a massive puke!

- The Indian press doesn't even bother to name any of the tail-waggers who went from the Bangladesh side. And just wait till these jackasses get back to BD, bandwagoning about their "revolutionary achievements" and the "unprecedented respect" they received in India.

- This idea of 61 weekly services had been proposed by India quite some time back and the breakdown will be: Kolktata 26, Delhi 07, Mumbai 07, Chennai 07, Hyderabad 07, Bangalore 07.

- The 18 tourist gateways opened up by India means nothing for Bangladesh due to the non-existent basic traffic between BD and these points (even Jaipur, despite its proximity to Ajmer, won't warrant strady traffic year round from BD).

- DAC and CGP were already allowed, and now they've given out ZYL in a trade-off for all the useless rights offered by India. I'm sure the 'Beyond Points' for Indian carriers will be amended too (if not already done on this trip) to allow them to fly to the UK with freedom rights and we'll soon see AI or 9W doing ZYL-LHR/LGW throwing our carriers to the bins.

- And what the F#*K is co-operative marketing???

- And 7 weekly all-cargo services to/from each others territory with any type of aircraft? For heaven's sake Bangladeshi carriers don't even have ANY ALL CARGO AIRCRAFT (excepting Bismillah's AN-12, Zoom's HS-748, and Voyager's F-27 which are ridiculous to count in) to do such flights! This cake is AI's to have and eat all by itself!

- Unless changed in this trip, India carriers already had the rights to fly to these destinations through DAC: RGN, HAN, PER, SYD, VTN, SGN, JKT, MNL, HKG, SIN, KUL, and PEN.

Even without further addition to India's rights, I can already apprehend their carriers to do flights to: Australia through DAC and SIN; and do all-cargo flights to/from HKG and/or SIN through DAC. Both these options will do fantastic if I'm to trust the pax and cargo traffic data published by IATA.

Boy...do I feel like kicking some ass or what! :bash:

* Best Air's B737-200 (LN 1039) is the type often dubbed as 'Advanced' (!!) for having the P&W JT8D-15A(HK3) engines installed. The 'HK' in the engine model string stands for "hush-kit" and the number '3' to mean "Stage III". The 737-200Adv meets Stage III noise standards through the installation of the hush-kits to the engines.

And you seriously think CAAB, being a Category 2 CAA and as sickeningly incompetent as it is, would care for any noise standards at all?

Mamun85

February 14th, 2008, 10:15 PM

CAAB Must think about our cariers

Mamun85

February 14th, 2008, 10:15 PM

http://www2.0zz0.com/2008/02/14/20/759877512.jpg

Tmac

February 15th, 2008, 01:34 AM

Dhaka, Delhi sign deal to double flights

Bangladesh and India signed an air service agreement on Wednesday raising the number of weekly flights from 30 to 61.

The pact signed in New Delhi will allow Bangladeshi airlines to operate flights to 18 destinations in India and Indian airline Air India to operate flights from Sylhet for the first time, reported our New Delhi correspondent.

Civil aviation authorities of the two countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to allow the designated airlines of both the sides to operate seven all-cargo flights per week within their territories by any type of aircraft.

The decisions were reached at a three-day meeting from February 11 to 13 between the two sides in New Delhi. The Bangladesh delegation led by Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Sheikh Altaf Ali went to Delhi on February 9 to attend the meeting.

The 18 Indian destinations are -- Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Port Blair, Kochi, Trivandrum, Kozikode, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli.

Earlier, Bangladeshi airlines' destinations in India were Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai.

The two countries also agreed to the provision of co-operative marketing arrangement to enhance air services and make it profitable.

However, Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd said the increase in number of flights has not been a positive step for Biman as it was not done on the basis of basic air traffic.

Existing flights were enough to carry the passengers of the two countries, said a high official of Biman requesting anonymity.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=23415

Moin

February 15th, 2008, 11:00 AM

To operate daily flights on the Delhi-Dhaka route, starting April 2008.

Bangladesh-based GMG Airlines is working on an aggressive expansion plan in India. It is looking to introduce services from Dhaka to Mumbai, Chennai and Guwahati this year, and if everything goes as per plan, the airline may also fly to Jaipur, in a bid to tap the growing inflow of Bangladesh-based religious tourists to Ajmer in Rajasthan.

"We aim to start flying to Guwahati from May 2008, and services to Mumbai and Chennai will be operational by July and December 2008 respectively," said Shahab Sattar, Managing Director, GMG Airlines. "The airline is also going to operate daily flights on the Delhi-Dhaka route, starting April 2008," he added.

At present, the airline operates four times a week on the Delhi-Dhaka route, three flights a week on the Chittagong-Kolkata route and twice daily services on the Kolkata-Doha route. It operates the 150-seater MD80 aircraft on the Delhi-Dhaka route, and plans to operate the same aircraft on the Mumbai and Chennai routes. For the Guwahati-Dhaka route, the airline will opt for turboprop aircraft. "We will replace our present fleet with Boeing 737 by early 2009, and operate the aircraft on the Indian routes, as well as our domestic and other international routes," said Sattar.

GMG Airlines, a part of the GMG Group, made its entry in the Indian market with its flight connecting Kolkata and Chittgaon in 2004. The airline is positive about the new routes in India and their occupancy levels. Currently, on an average, it registers occupancy of 65 per cent on the Indian routes. In terms of market share, the airline claims 24 per cent market share in the Kolkata aviation market. "Besides, we have a code share agreement with Indian Airlines, which augments our market share to 40 per cent in the region," said Sattar.

Apart from the expansion plans, the airline is looking at providing feeder services to the airlines in India. "Considering that most airlines in India are now focusing on international operations, we aim to provide feeder services to those airlines from Bangladesh," offered Sattar. At present, the airline has code share agreement with Air India and interline document sharing arrangement with Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways in India.

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/articleDetails.aspx?id=2233&sectionid=15&name=Aviation

Moin

February 15th, 2008, 11:20 AM

Why india did not include Bangalor and Hyderabad on the agreement??

bromora

February 15th, 2008, 01:57 PM

AI website shows there's no online booking available on DEL/CCU-DAC route upto 25 Feb. So is AI not operating to DAC now? And does AI Express operate to DAC? There website doesn't mention DAC as destination.

Yeah - AI stopped operating the LHR-DEL-CCU-DAC route from early Jan citing weather but did say it'd be back on from late Feb.

bromora

February 15th, 2008, 02:12 PM

Imran bhai, fully agree with your sentiments on everything except:

- DAC and CGP were already allowed, and now they've given out ZYL in a trade-off for all the useless rights offered by India. I'm sure the 'Beyond Points' for Indian carriers will be amended too (if not already done on this trip) to allow them to fly to the UK with freedom rights and we'll soon see AI or 9W doing ZYL-LHR/LGW throwing our carriers to the bins.

It's not like our carriers are doing anything to properly service this route. So, if it takes a foreign carrier to give Biman a kick up the a*** (if it survives), then so be it. GMG aren't even looking at this route until 2009 and I don't believe the government permitted any of the other BD carriers to operate this route.

The expats of the UK (who pump millions into BD) have long been campaigning for a LHR-ZYL-LHR route for many years to avoid having to use Biman. What should be a 10-11 hour journey time can take 20 hours+ on the way to ZYL and 1-2 days for the return trip (due to connecting via DAC).

So, I'm sure it'll be a welcome news. But it still remains to be seen whether ZYL-DEL-LHR/LGW flights will be permitted. Nevertheless, ZYL-DEL, DEL-LHR connections through AI would be a more pleasant journey with AI than the present BG arrangements.

What are your thoughts on this?

iasif

February 15th, 2008, 03:26 PM

Imran bhai, fully agree with your sentiments on everything except:

It's not like our carriers are doing anything to properly service this route. So, if it takes a foreign carrier to give Biman a kick up the a*** (if it survives), then so be it. GMG aren't even looking at this route until 2009 and I don't believe the government permitted any of the other BD carriers to operate this route.

The expats of the UK (who pump millions into BD) have long been campaigning for a LHR-ZYL-LHR route for many years to avoid having to use Biman. What should be a 10-11 hour journey time can take 20 hours+ on the way to ZYL and 1-2 days for the return trip (due to connecting via DAC).

So, I'm sure it'll be a welcome news. But it still remains to be seen whether ZYL-DEL-LHR/LGW flights will be permitted. Nevertheless, ZYL-DEL, DEL-LHR connections through AI would be a more pleasant journey with AI than the present BG arrangements.

What are your thoughts on this?

- If BA (or for that matter any UK airline) started doing LHR-ZYL-LHR I wouldn't have been this upset. UK airlines have as much right to do it as any BD airline, that's the essence of ASA's between 2 countries.

- I wouldn't be upset even if ZYL-LHR/LGW rights are given to Indian carriers in trade of something that's WORTH it! For example, you think Indians would give BD carriers the permission to do Dhaka-Calicut-Dubai with 5th freedom rights (and therefore carry the huge number of Indians there to the Middle-East)? No way!

- And did you know that despite having 5th freedom rights on DAC-BOM-DXB route, BG has to pay a royalty to AI for every pax taken from BOM bound for DXB? All this while AI was merrily doing DEL-DAC-CCU-LHR paying nothing to BG? That's another example of the art of negotiation...something the Indians are damn good at, and we are, oh well...I can't even find a proper adjective!

- Make no nistake, I have NOTHING against the Indians. They are a bunch of very intelligent people (I know people at 9W and IT to figure that out). I'm just agonized at the way we give in, the way we expose our lack of knowledge, the way we often become so subservient without any reason, and the way we ofetn sell the nations interest for our own personal benefits. Only if we were nearly as patriotic as the Indians are....sigh!

- I can understand the agonies of the Sylhetis in the UK as far as their travelling on BG through DAC is concerned. But that's the point....its a problem that could be solved only if Biman was smarter than it turned out to be. And that's still possible...Biman can do it if it gets the right support, Z5 can do it as well as they expand...and maybe others too.

The point I'm trying to make is that if OUR AIRLINES (BG, Z5...anyone) can do something that we should be doing, why would we unnecessarily just give it out to someone who'll take away our money?

And here's something interesting:
"Air India, Jet plan to buy 60 Boeings"
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=1&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=313737&chkFlg

Fair use excerpt:
"Airlines in India like Jet Airways and Air India have firm orders with Boeing for delivery till the year 2011. Now they are planning beyond that in view of expected market growth," said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president (sales), Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Air India is studying how many aircraft it requires and Jet Airways is also planning more wide-bodied aircraft to service the expansion of its international network.

Said S Venkat, executive director (finance), Air India, "The airline will finalise the orders it is going to place with aircraft manufacturers in the next three months. A high-level committee set up to examine the total number of aircraft required beyond 2011 will submit a growth projection and a Request for Proposal has already been made."

Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj Datta said: "We will take a final decision on the new aircraft only after looking at the market situation."

------

Now, I'm not trying to imply that these Indian carriers are buying 60 planes for the market into and out of Bangladesh! I'm only trying to cite an example of "planning ahead"...and that too by folks just outside our windows!

bromora

February 15th, 2008, 03:38 PM

Fully agree with your comments. Might be worth the ACC checking the bank balances of the BD "negotiators" following their return :)

Regarding, LHR-ZYL-LHR, correct me if I'm mistaken but I believe the ASA with the UK does not permit this (only LHR-DAC-LHR) as I can't see why BA would not want this but then it'll kill off Biman's revenue stream from this lucrative route.

This route is well overdue!!

There was talk recently of the CAAB looking into setting up a jet refuelling facility at ZYL. Do you know if this is being looked at as this is one of the stumbling blocks for doing LHR-ZYL-LHR routes?

AeroGeeK

February 15th, 2008, 04:04 PM

kodbel

February 15th, 2008, 05:11 PM

Why india did not include Bangalor and Hyderabad on the agreement??

^^ Hyderabad was opened to Bangladeshi carriers a long time ago..

Dhaka, Delhi sign deal to double flights

Bangladesh and India signed an air service agreement on Wednesday raising the number of weekly flights from 30 to 61.

The pact signed in New Delhi will allow Bangladeshi airlines to operate flights to 18 destinations in India and Indian airline Air India to operate flights from Sylhet for the first time, reported our New Delhi correspondent.

The 18 Indian destinations are -- Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Port Blair, Kochi, Trivandrum, Kozikode, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli.

^^ The only important (and disheartening) point is allowing AI to operate into ZYL. Just wondering, why didn't 9W pursue for their right in ZYL as well??

To operate daily flights on the Delhi-Dhaka route, starting April 2008.

Bangladesh-based GMG Airlines is working on an aggressive expansion plan in India. It is looking to introduce services from Dhaka to Mumbai, Chennai and Guwahati this year, and if everything goes as per plan, the airline may also fly to Jaipur, in a bid to tap the growing inflow of Bangladesh-based religious tourists to Ajmer in Rajasthan.

"We aim to start flying to Guwahati from May 2008, and services to Mumbai and Chennai will be operational by July and December 2008 respectively," said Shahab Sattar, Managing Director, GMG Airlines. "The airline is also going to operate daily flights on the Delhi-Dhaka route, starting April 2008," he added.

At present, the airline operates four times a week on the Delhi-Dhaka route, three flights a week on the Chittagong-Kolkata route and twice daily services on the Kolkata-Doha route. It operates the 150-seater MD80 aircraft on the Delhi-Dhaka route, and plans to operate the same aircraft on the Mumbai and Chennai routes. For the Guwahati-Dhaka route, the airline will opt for turboprop aircraft. "We will replace our present fleet with Boeing 737 by early 2009, and operate the aircraft on the Indian routes, as well as our domestic and other international routes," said Sattar.

GMG Airlines, a part of the GMG Group, made its entry in the Indian market with its flight connecting Kolkata and Chittgaon in 2004. The airline is positive about the new routes in India and their occupancy levels. Currently, on an average, it registers occupancy of 65 per cent on the Indian routes. In terms of market share, the airline claims 24 per cent market share in the Kolkata aviation market. "Besides, we have a code share agreement with Indian Airlines, which augments our market share to 40 per cent in the region," said Sattar.

Apart from the expansion plans, the airline is looking at providing feeder services to the airlines in India. "Considering that most airlines in India are now focusing on international operations, we aim to provide feeder services to those airlines from Bangladesh," offered Sattar. At present, the airline has code share agreement with Air India and interline document sharing arrangement with Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways in India.

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/articleDetails.aspx?id=2233&sectionid=15&name=Aviation

^^ I hope they have done their calculations properly before embarking on such strategy. A more ambitious target would be to expand their network in other long-haul destinations rather than putting in more flights to various parts of India.

Do BD have fifth freedom agreement with DXB or any other middle eastern country? United hinted of their LON-DXB-DAC plans recently. IMHO thats a safe approach to expanding,ie- even if you fail to fill LON pax,you are guaranteed a full load in DXB-DAC sector.
Why doesn't Gmg extend their 743's DXB route to STN or LTN? It lays idle in DAC almost half of the time!!

Air Sylhet was supposed to operate on BHX/MAN - SHJ - DAC/ZYL late 2007. All the bengali channels in sky was inundated by their advertisement. Anybody know their status now?

bromora

February 15th, 2008, 05:17 PM

Current ASA between BD & UK permits 1 carrier from each side to operate between DAC & LHR. That's why Biman had to reroute their ZYL-LHR flight to ZYL-DAC-LHR back in 2006 (or 2005, i cant remember) because BA objected.

That's what I remember. So, instead of taking that opportunity to renegotiate the ASA with the UK and provide a satisfactory service to the UK expats, Biman/BD government opted to put the passengers through more years of misery!!

Furthermore, if the ASA only allows one carrier to service each country, how can GMG be thinking of launching LHR services in 2009? Are they foreseeing the demise of Biman or do they think Biman will be giving up this lucrative route willingly? Or is there any chance of re-negotiating the ASA between the UK and BD in the near future?

bromora

February 15th, 2008, 05:23 PM

Air Sylhet was supposed to operate on BHX/MAN - SHJ - DAC/ZYL late 2007. All the bengali channels in sky was inundated by their advertisement. Anybody know their status now?

Last I heard, they were going to launch UK-ZYL flights during the 3 month BD Open Skies policy. However, that probably was the 5th time they gave a launch date and reneged on it. I don't believe Air Sylhet is a viable enterprise and there was a fallout among the founding chairman and the other board members to the extent that the old chairman went on the news to slate Air Sylhet!! Have not heard a peep since then.

AeroGeeK

February 15th, 2008, 05:40 PM

TIslam

February 15th, 2008, 06:46 PM

-
- And did you know that despite having 5th freedom rights on DAC-BOM-DXB route, BG has to pay a royalty to AI for every pax taken from BOM bound for DXB? All this while AI was merrily doing DEL-DAC-CCU-LHR paying nothing to BG? That's another example of the art of negotiation...something the Indians are damn good at, and we are, oh well...I can't even find a proper adjective!

- Make no nistake, I have NOTHING against the Indians. They are a bunch of very intelligent people (I know people at 9W and IT to figure that out). I'm just agonized at the way we give in, the way we expose our lack of knowledge, the way we often become so subservient without any reason, and the way we ofetn sell the nations interest for our own personal benefits. Only if we were nearly as patriotic as the Indians are....sigh!

Art of negotiation? I don't think so. To my mind these Bangladesh government (MFing!)) officials know exactly what they are doing and they go in with their eyes wide open. The only thing these people are good at is selling their mothers (i.e. the country)! One has to be exceptionally dim witted to give (away) something for nothing, so I don't buy that they don't know what they are doing! It is not rocket science.

You said it, "ofetn sell the nations interest for our own personal benefits". Therein lies everything that ills the nation. And as long as this mentality does not change for the average Bangladeshi, the country has very little to expect by way of high achievement, whether in airline business or anything else.

My question though is, why is it that most so-called educated Bangladeshis are like that? Why just compare against Indians and their patroitism? Look at countries like China and Vietnam. These countries are ruled by iron fisted repressive regimes but are the people any less patroitic? Just the other day, the US indicted a bunch of folks of Chinese origin, for spying for China. These people left China eons ago, and some are probably naturalized US citizens, yet their passion for China is so overwhelming that they risk their lives to spy against the US. Makes me wanna weep (for poor Bangladesh)!

bromora

February 15th, 2008, 06:47 PM

GMG can operate to LHR with codeshare agreement with Biman. I don't know if BD-UK ASA has been slightly modified to allow more than 1 carrier. "Slightly" because it still forces airlines to operate only from DAC. Can carriers operate DAC-STN-DAC? LHR authority told BG to transfer its operation to STN/LGW because BG's regular delays create problems at LHR.

I guess DAC-STN-DAC would have to do if Biman did lose its LHR slot. Following intensive meetings with BAA last year, Biman have been given another chance at LHR but if their use of the LHR slot falls below 80% by the end of summer 2008, then it's likely they will be kicked out of LHR. Whether CAAB would then have to re-negotiate the UK-BD ASA or simply just accept it's STN instead of LHR (which given the recent history of their negotiating skills they might do) remains to be seen as I don't envisage Biman would be able to stick to their flight schedules anymore than they have done in the past!

However, we forget about MAN. How come Biman is able to operate out of two UK airports and BA has to stick to only DAC?

iasif

February 15th, 2008, 07:04 PM

Current ASA between BD & UK permits 1 carrier from each side to operate between DAC & LHR. That's why Biman had to reroute their ZYL-LHR flight to ZYL-DAC-LHR back in 2006 (or 2005, i cant remember) because BA objected.

GMG can operate to LHR with codeshare agreement with Biman. I don't know if BD-UK ASA has been slightly modified to allow more than 1 carrier. "Slightly" because it still forces airlines to operate only from DAC. Can carriers operate DAC-STN-DAC? LHR authority told BG to transfer its operation to STN/LGW because BG's regular delays create problems at LHR.

- Any ASA can include multiple designation of carriers from either country, it only requires an amendment, and is a very common and regular practice. So if UK wants it can endorse as many of their carriers as they'd like and likewise Bangladesh can endorse as many carrier as it likes. Whether the endorsed carriers will be able to fly between the countries or not would depend on their own safety/airworthiness and the number of flight frequencies and capacity mentioned in the ASA.

- The current ASA between UK and Bangladesh: allows both BA and BG to use any Intermediate Points (BA uses none, and BG uses DXB); permits Points of Arrival of London and Manchester for BG and Dhaka for BA; both BA and BG can use any Points Beyond; BG/BA can operate 7 flights/week with B747 or bigger aircraft or 10 flights/week using aircraft of 300 seats or less; 5th Freedom for BG includes Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain; 5th Freedom for BA includes Mumbai and Delhi.

- BA has LONG been wanting to do ZYL-LHR non-stop. The reason why they couldn't was due to the fact that the runway at ZYL wasn't long enough for BA's 777s or 747s to operate into without a payload penalty. Now that the runway at ZYL has been extended, BA would LOVE to beging serving ZYL non-stop, even by reducing frequencies to DAC if necessary.

If Bangladesh allows BA to go to ZYL, UK will allow reciprocal rights for Bangladeshi carriers as well.

bromora

February 15th, 2008, 07:43 PM

iasif

February 15th, 2008, 08:30 PM

Thanks again Imran bhai for the info. However, I don't think Biman is gonna give up it's monopoly anytime soon and keep the misery going for pax flying from ZYL or do you have any good news or can you do any nudging to assist in this respect?

It isn't up to Biman anymore to 'keep' anything to itself or 'give up' anything to others. Biman wasn't in favour of this renegotiation of ASA with India...and you think anyone cared?

From a practical point of view, even I don't support Biman dictating negotiation and usage of any ASA terms. What I insist on is for the GoB to evaluate factors considering the NATION'S INTEREST and then negotiate/renegotiate terms and allow local carriers to use the rights therein. This is the issue where we are completely falling apart...and it makes me feel like running my head into the wall.

I think its only a matter of time now that some airline starts doing ZYL-LHR non-stop. It could be BA, Z5, AI/9W...anyone. But I don't think this Air Sylhet will ever come into being. Their affairs from day 1 has been dubious, and I only wonder how many people lost their money trusting anything about that start-up proposition.

TIslam

February 16th, 2008, 03:41 AM

Imran

How come BA operates only three (could be four) times a week to DAC? Not enough passengers? If that is the case, would LHR-DAC be reduced to once a week if LHR-ZYL becomes popular?

amar11372

February 16th, 2008, 07:07 AM

Dhaka and Nairobi ink air services deal

February 01, 2008
–A Monitor Report

Dhaka : Dhaka and Nairobi has inked a memorandum of understanding on bilateral air services on January 16 for airlines of both countries to operate between Dhaka and Nairobi. This was revealed later at a joint press conference at city’s Lake Shore restaurant. Shaikh Altaf Ali, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and the leader of the Kenyan six-member delegation Benjamin K. Enyenze, a high official of the Ministry of Transport, was present at the conference. Among others, Chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, Managing Directors of Biman Bangladesh Airlines as well as GMG Airlines and ATAB president was also present on the occasion.
The speakers of the conference said, this agreement will open the gateway towards Central and West Africa and the Bangladeshi expatriates living in those region as well as peace keepers of United Nations will be benefited immensely for easy transportation both ways. This will create a new and unexplored African market for Bangladeshi goods, manpower and tourism also, they commented.

National Travel Bureau, a sister concern of Saimon Group, is the GSA of Kenyan Airways in Bangladesh.

http://www.bangladeshmonitor.net/aviation_story.php?recordID=1318

iasif

February 16th, 2008, 09:42 AM

Imran

How come BA operates only three (could be four) times a week to DAC? Not enough passengers? If that is the case, would LHR-DAC be reduced to once a week if LHR-ZYL becomes popular?

Dhaka and Nairobi ink air services deal

http://www.bangladeshmonitor.net/aviation_story.php?recordID=1318

TISLAM: Until 2003, BA used to operate more flights to DAC (I think 4x weekly) and used the B747-400. Its from 2003 that BA reduced the frequencies as well as downgraded the capacity to the B777-200ER. The main reason has been the competition from the likes of EK, QR etc. who offered very good fares for their one-stop flights into LHR. Many pax didn't need and/or didn't prefer 9-hour non-stop flights and opted for these one-stop flights instead. For many Sylhetis, the difficulty was in connecting at DAC from ZYL, not the one-stop at Dubai or Qatar. Another reason was for the fact that once Willie Walsh took over at BA, he brought numerous changes into BA's marketing strategies to keep it competent against other European giants, especially the ones who were looking to consolidate (Air France KLM, for example). If you look at BA's figures, you'd know Mr. Walsh did a pretty good job!

AMAR11372: This has been reported in the newspapers earlier, and was yet another example of sheer incompetency and ignorance in the part of the CAAB:
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=19595

Idiot-speak: The CAAB chairman said Biman Bangladesh Airlines has initially assessed the value of the markets.

My Reasoning: It is not BIMAN'S job to assess the market to form the basis of an ASA....it is solely and exclusively the job of CAAB. Biman is a separate entity and should be "just another airline" in the eyes of CAAB, which is the regulatory authority of all Bangladeshi airlines alike, including Biman.

Analysis: In my opinion, Kenya Airways (KQ) will operate to DAC either through an Intermediate Point in the Middle-East where they have 5th Freedom Rights, or they will operate to the far-east through DAC with 5th Freedom Rights. KQ just announced increasing their frequencies to Guangzhou from 4 to 6 weekly (4 via DXB and 2 via BKK where they have 5th Freedom Rights already). They also increased flights to HKG from 3 to 4 weekly through BKK (again with 5th Freedom) and increased flights to BKK from 3 to 6 weekly non-stop from NBO.

The traffic between China/Japan and Kenya is growing strongly due to the large scale investments made by Chinese and Japanese state enterprises in different African states. China (particularly Guangzhou) also has a huge "direct trade" with eastern/Southern Africa which triggered air traffic growth.

If KQ manages to get 5th Freedom Rights and Intermediate and Beyond Points of their choice in the ASA with Bangladesh they might do:
NBO-DXB-DAC-DXB-NBO (though competitive with EK and other UAE carriers)
NBO-BKK-DAC-BKK-NBO (again competitive with TG, KB, Z5)
NBO-DAC-CAN-DAC-NBO (this one could be a real gem of a route for them, thanks to the cargo payload potential).

The talks about "Bangladeshi expats in Central Africa" and "UN Peacekeeper traffic" is all bullshit...neither is significant enough to warrant regular scheduled flights between Bangladesh and Kenya. It'll have to be in line with KQ's aim at strengthening its network in other South-Asian cities and the Far-East.

Ask Chairman CAAB about anything I just mentioned here, that idiot will go like this :banana: and say "Well....jeez...I dunno...maybe BIMAN will think about those".

Anyone reminded of the movie "Dumb and Dumber"?

amar11372

February 16th, 2008, 10:49 AM

Asif what do you think about the idea of privatizing the Dhaka airport. Do you think it will be any change in efficiency? since many large airports elsewhere are owned by corporations.

iasif

February 16th, 2008, 11:15 AM

Asif what do you think about the idea of privatizing the Dhaka airport. Do you think it will be any change in efficiency? since many large airports elsewhere are owned by corporations.

Long overdue, but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon. ZIA hasn't seen major infrastructural improvements in over 3 decades (meaning to say developments to stay in pace with the market growth). It still has just 6 aerobridges, 3 remote parking stands on the main apron area and then maybe another 2 if you use the area in front of the VIP terminal adjacent to the domestic terminal. And then there's the vintage ATC system which I think should've been sent to France with the lot of artifacts!

Even India has given Mumbai and Delhi airports to Fraport and South African Airport Authority...just to keep up the expansion along the growth which Airport Authority of India didn't think they could take care of by themselves. The new airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad also has majority investments by international stakeholders.

I personally hold the belief that the if the airports at Dhaka and Chittagong are properly utilized optimally with the market potential, they could make a helluva lot of money just by facilitating trade in this region as a hub.

But then, I'm screaming along the shores of a raging ocean...with no one to hear what I'm saying...

AeroGeeK

February 16th, 2008, 01:00 PM

iasif

February 16th, 2008, 02:06 PM

When BG started MAN service they stopped Brussels & flew to JFK from MAN. But after a few days they changed to DAC-MAN-BRU-JFK!!! Because Bangladeshis coming from JFK needed UK transit visa if flown directly to MAN. But AI has made LHR a focus city & flies directly to US cities from there. Don't Indians have to take UK transit visa? And my 2nd question is, why doesn't BG research before creating new routes? Look what happened to ZYL-LHR & DAC-MAN-JFK. Both had to be changed just because of rules. Why didn't BG check out those rules prior to flying?

Biman didn't stop doing MAN-JFK for visa issues. They HAD to stop doing it because while Biman was operating DAC-BRU-JFK, the CAAB got Category 2 listed by the FAA. This meant that in order for Biman to change the LAST AIRPORT OF DEPARTURE before arriving into any US airport, they had to seek prior permission from FAA, which Biman didn't. Subsequently, CAAB and Biman were notified by FAA of the violation of rules and Biman quickly reverted back to Brussels before going across the pond to JFK.

As for ZYL-LHR, the problem was that ZYL was not listed in the ASA as one of the permitted Intermediate Points for Bangladeshi carriers. If ZYL was included as an Intermediate Point, BG could do DAC-ZYL-Any airport at London/MAN or DAC-ZYL-KWI/DXB/AUH/MCT/DOH/BAH-Any airport at London/MAN.

As to why: (i) Biman didn't CHECK the rules, and/or why (ii) CAAB didn't EXERCISE its regulations is a thought that beats me!

TIslam

February 16th, 2008, 06:54 PM

iasif

February 16th, 2008, 09:09 PM

I can gather from these (above) discussions, that incompetence is probably one of the primary reason for the current state of civil aviation in Bangladesh. That plus the fact that, while Biman has been made a corporate entity on paper, it is still a part and parcel of the government, in the minds of the "kamlas".

As for airport privatization --- it will never happen! Owing to the vested interest of CAAB officials, Biman unions, and political figures (who shall be running the show, post elections), privatization is as likely as seven Fridays in a week!

Have good hopes my friend...well, all my friends here!

And let's now have a drumroll please...to the news that...
CIVIL AVIATION SECY HAS JUST BEEN PUT ON OSD!
http://www.ittefaq.com/content/2008/02/17/news0290.htm

Again, like I said...may good hopes prevail! Cheers! :cheers:

amar11372

February 16th, 2008, 09:11 PM

Biman set to improve financial health
Rashidul Hasan

http://thedailystar.net/photos/2008-02-17__bus01.jpg

Biman Bangladesh Airlines' measures to cease operation on losing routes, down size staff, and curb corruption have began to pay off as the once loss making national flag carrier is on its way to improving financial health.

Biman, which was facing a near bankruptcy in 2006, now has cash reserves of Tk 510 crore, company Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Dr MA Momen said.

“Biman's financial strength could have been much better had the airline procured one or two wide-bodied aircraft,” Momen said.Biman, now a public limited company, does not owe money to any organization, which includes the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Company (BPC), said the CEO, adding, “Biman now purchases oil from BPC in cash.”

"Since April, 2007 Biman has paid about Tk 500 crore in advance to BPC to buy fuel," he said.In its bid to strengthen fleet, Biman purchased an A-310 Airbus in October of last year, while procurement of another wide-bodied aircraft is about to be completed, Biman sources said.

According to Biman's finance department, the national flag carrier made a loss of Tk 192.66, 455, and 272 crore in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07, respectively.Over the period of first seven months of the 2007-08 fiscal Biman has accumulated Tk 510 crore in cash.

Biman has suffered from a number of problems, including mismanagement and inefficiency in flight management over one decade.In mid of 2006 the situation worsened and some foreign stations declined to sell fuel to Biman on credit. Biman employees demanded arrears and staged demonstrations in October 2007.

Under its voluntary retirement scheme Biman got rid of 1800 staff. Moreover, in the last 7 to 8 months about 200 staff were either sent on forced retirement or sacked on charges of corruption and irregularities. Now Biman has around 2800 staff.

http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=23751

It seems to me like after the Corporatization of Biman, its turning itself around. Going from consecutive years of losses to a TK. 510 crore profit is a big feat.

amar11372

February 16th, 2008, 09:19 PM

I can gather from these (above) discussions, that incompetence is probably one of the primary reason for the current state of civil aviation in Bangladesh. That plus the fact that, while Biman has been made a corporate entity on paper, it is still a part and parcel of the government, in the minds of the "kamlas".

As for airport privatization --- it will never happen! Owing to the vested interest of CAAB officials, Biman unions, and political figures (who shall be running the show, post elections), privatization is as likely as seven Fridays in a week!

You never know. Maybe the Caretaker Govt will do something even more drastic in the last month of their tenure (assuming they hold an election) in the Business sector. Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed is know to be a enthusiastic proponent of privatization during his days as an economist at the World Bank.

TIslam

February 16th, 2008, 09:51 PM

Have good hopes my friend...well, all my friends here!

And let's now have a drumroll please...to the news that...
CIVIL AVIATION SECY HAS JUST BEEN PUT ON OSD!
http://www.ittefaq.com/content/2008/02/17/news0290.htm

Again, like I said...may good hopes prevail! Cheers! :cheers:

I'll drink to that! Generally speaking, OSD = punishment? His personal finances should be investigated. The damage however, has already been done i.e. Bangladesh-India ASA has been amended that favors Indian carriers. How to undo that?

iasif

February 16th, 2008, 09:58 PM

Biman set to improve financial health

http://thedailystar.net/photos/2008-02-17__bus01.jpg

http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=23751

It seems to me like after the Corporatization of Biman, its turning itself around. Going from consecutive years of losses to a TK. 510 crore profit is a big feat.

Let me give you a few points to think about:

1. During these years from 2004-2007, the global airline traffic (revenue pax kilometers or RPK) has grown at an average rate of 4.5%, while the number of pax during the same period has grown by an average rate of 4% annually.

During this period, Biman has gradually cut down on the number of routes it operates, its market share percentage has declined, and overall turnover has also decreased.

2. For the last 4 years, each of the 2 largest aircraft manufacturers (Boeing and Airbus) has each sold over 1,000 aircraft every year.

Through the same period, Biman's fleet has dwindled by number (despite the A310 acquisition from Crane, the money for which came from the insurance claim of the A310 that crashed at DXB). The true "active" fleet is lower than the number of aircraft in Biman's fleet. During this period, Biman didn't order any new aircraft with any manufacturer.

Now, the question is: so how did Biman manage to put up this cash reserves of BDT 510 crore?

The answer is:
(i) through reduction of overhead costs (staff retrenchment, fixed costs, etc.)
(ii) through reduction of operating costs (huge corruption pilferages, variable costs, suspension of unprofitable routes, etc.)
(iii) through focusing on operating routes that generates greatest revenues (particularly the Middle-East)

The point I'm hereby trying to make is that while all these aforementioned steps have resulted in the build-up of the cash reserves of BDT 510 crore, this operating plan is NOT SUSTAINABLE and is only an interim measure that paid off for the time being. Biman must stand up firmly on its own feet and work to increase its market share percentage, generate greater revenues, and compete in the market with more capacity. If it fails to do these, this cash reserve will soon dry out and will choke the airline to death.

And there's also the need of looking at these figures from a more practical point of view. For example, the BDT 300 crore that came from the World Bank for the VRS is a loan and will have to be paid off with BDT 150 crore as interest on top of the principal amount. That's a BDT 450 crore worth of liability Biman has right at this moment to World Bank alone. If Biman fails to pay up, this money will go out of the pocket of the GoB in due course of time.

That's my 2 cents!

TIslam

February 16th, 2008, 10:01 PM

Biman set to improve financial health
It seems to me like after the Corporatization of Biman, its turning itself around. Going from consecutive years of losses to a TK. 510 crore profit is a big feat.

I don't think corporatization alone was the reason. The performance improved under a CTG government which probably gave Biman officials their marching orders. I doubt the same result, that too, within a short span of time, would have yielded, if the same corporatized Biman was operating under an AL or BNP government.

iasif

February 16th, 2008, 10:09 PM

I'll drink to that! Generally speaking, OSD = punishment? His personal finances should be investigated. The damage however, has already been done i.e. Bangladesh-India ASA has been amended that favors Indian carriers. How to undo that?

Surely this scum's (and his family's) wealth should be investigated...totally with you on that.

But as for the ASA, I don't think it could've been prevented anyways. Whichever government (political or otherwise) holds power in Bangladesh, they will ever be able to fight the political strengths and pressures coming from India. That's the harsh reality as it is and we'll have to live with that. India and China are here to rule the world, like it or not, for as many decades as you can think of in the future!

What can be attempted though is to try and build a good diplomatic relationship with India and earn something for ourselves too, rather than giving out everything to them for just nothing in return!

iasif

February 16th, 2008, 10:17 PM

I doubt the same result, that too, within a short span of time, would have yielded, if the same corporatized Biman was operating under an AL or BNP government.

Well, it probably would still have yielded the same, or perhaps GREATER results under either BNP or AL...for then Biman would either have been:
Jatiyotabadi Biman Limited
or
Awami Biman Limited
and its exclusive beneficiaries would have surely made MUCH MUCH MORE than JUST BDT 510 crore for themselves!

Ask this man called Shamim Iskander if you can find him, and you'll find EVERY LETTER of my statement stand firmly proven!

TIslam

February 16th, 2008, 10:19 PM

Surely this scum's (and his family's) wealth should be investigated...totally with you on that.

But as for the ASA, I don't think it could've been prevented anyways. Whichever government (political or otherwise) holds power in Bangladesh, they will ever be able to fight the political strengths and pressures coming from India. That's the harsh reality as it is and we'll have to live with that. India and China are here to rule the world, like it or not, for as many decades as you can think of in the future!

What can be attempted though is to try and build a good diplomatic relationship with India and earn something for ourselves too, rather than giving out everything to them for just nothing in return!

Spoken like a sage! Amen to that.

TIslam

February 16th, 2008, 10:53 PM

Ask this man called Shamim Iskander if you can find him, and you'll find EVERY LETTER of my statement stand firmly proven!

Why, is he on the run? He should be in jail. I read somewhere that being an ex-major he has friends in the right places where it counts. If that is true, then I feel sorry for all those who are behind bars or have been convicted.

iasif

February 17th, 2008, 06:44 AM

Why, is he on the run? He should be in jail. I read somewhere that being an ex-major he has friends in the right places where it counts. If that is true, then I feel sorry for all those who are behind bars or have been convicted.

Nope....he's not on the run, and isn't headed for jail either. He's got a very supportive elder brother who saved his ass.

The guy was cold as a snake, and if I was granted one wish I would have the Genie give him the famous 'hot egg' treatment for him to merrily spill the beans about the 'little wealth' he managed to pile up through these 5 years!

TIslam

February 17th, 2008, 07:40 AM

Nope....he's not on the run, and isn't headed for jail either. He's got a very supportive elder brother who saved his ass.

The guy was cold as a snake, and if I was granted one wish I would have the Genie give him the famous 'hot egg' treatment for him to merrily spill the beans about the 'little wealth' he managed to pile up through these 5 years!

Isn't that a shame! So much for fighting corruption mission of ACC! :ohno:

AeroGeeK

February 17th, 2008, 09:14 AM

iasif

February 17th, 2008, 02:45 PM

Biman can do the following things:
1. Start DAC-SYD route ASAP as number of expats are rising rapidly there.
2. Offer cheap connection to SYD for passengers from CCU & Kathmandu. CCU people might like this route as it'd be cheaper & less time consuming than flying to BOM & taking BOM-SYD flight.
3. Offer attractive connection for Australian passengers to LHR. If it's cheaper than flying through KUL,SIN,BKK,HKG they'll opt for this.
4. Improve service [the toughest job]
5. Fire incompetent & below-standard cabin crews & replace them with good ones. If possible employ some from India as their professionalism is far more better than us [most Bangladeshi cabin crews don't have professionalism at all. They think passengers should obey/respect/oil them. My experience with BG & GMG isn't good]:bash::ohno:

Points 1-3 would require Bangladesh to have an ASA with Australia first, and then to follow your suggestions, Bangladesh would have to earn 5th freedom rights to/from India and UK which I think is going to be a very, very tough task. QF is very rigid about allowing unnecessary competition and has a strong influence on the Australian government. Just ask SQ...they've been fighting for the rights to do Australia-North America with freedom rights for a very long time with everything they've got and still haven't made it. My apprehension is QF won't let it happen until such a time when they'd themselves contemplate flying to/from DAC.

Point number 4 would require good, professional management to accomplish good service.

As far as inflight service is concerned, my personal best experiences were with SQ (which is obvious) and 9W (I think these people are amazing!)...whose standards are as high as cloud # 90 (yes, ninety) when you compare with BG!

AeroGeeK

February 17th, 2008, 04:42 PM

If we use DAC as a transit hub [bring pax to DAC by SYD-DAC flight & put them on different flights to LHR/CCU etc] would we still require 5th Freedom?

iasif

February 17th, 2008, 05:50 PM

If we use DAC as a transit hub [bring pax to DAC by SYD-DAC flight & put them on different flights to LHR/CCU etc] would we still require 5th Freedom?

This is the official blah-blah from ICAO:
http://www.icao.int/icao/en/trivia/freedoms_air.htm

And this is as comprehensive as it gets:
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch3en/conc3en/airfreedom.html

:)

Tmac

February 17th, 2008, 07:18 PM

New air deal with India to boost Bangladesh's private airlines

Bangladesh's latest air deal with India will allow the country's private airlines to spread their international wings and consolidate their position in a competitive market, the civil aviation chief said.

Dhaka and New Delhi last week signed the new air deal, which eased restrictions on Bangladeshi airlines to fly to cities other than New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, civil aviation authority chairman Shakeb Iqbal Khan Majlish said.

"Our private airlines will be greatly benefitted from the latest deal. All of them have sought more frequencies to India and the expansion of the routes will make it happen," he said.

The deal increased the weekly frequencies from 31 at present to 61, with new cities like Chennai, Lukhnow, Jaipur, Hyderbad and Bangalore joining the list of new destinations.

Dhaka was keen to sign a new air services deal with New Delhi after GMG and three new private operators have pressed for more routes to India where half a million Bangladeshis travel a year for treatment, tourism, pilgrimage and education.

Presently Bangladesh's state-owned carrier Biman and the private airlines GMG fly over 30 flights a week to India, while Indian national carrier Air India and the private carrier Jet operates 17 flights a week to Dhaka.

Largest Bangladesh airlines GMG has been seeking seven more weekly flights to Kolkata and several more to the Indian business hub of Mumbai.

Officials said the company, which embarked on a huge expansion plan, had to share codes with Air India to raise its frequencies to 26 a week to India.

Newly launched United Airways and the Best Air have also sought new frequencies to India, as they have found out making money is impossible in the domestic routes.

Best Air said they have received seven weekly flights to Kolkata after the Indian deal and would also get three more weekly flights to Chennai very soon.

"The civil aviation authority has already given us the go-ahead following the agreement," Best Air spokesman Tito Siddique said.

The company, majority owned by Kuwait's Al Aqueeq Aviation, has leased a Boeing 737-200 to operate in the domestic route. It is going to hire another Boeing 737-200 aircraft next week, Siddique said.

It will also lease two 299-seater wide-bodied Airbus aircraft 'very soon' to fly to Chennai and regional destinations such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and southern Chinese city of Kunming, he added.

Another entrant United Airways said it would also get some frequencies in India.

"We have already applied for frequencies to Kolkata. We hope the latest deal will make some slots available for us," United Airways director Ferdous Alam said.

"We are now operating in the domestic routes. But it is impossible to make any profit in domestic operation because the routes are very small and the traffic very thin," he added.

United Airways have leased one Dash-8 aircraft to operate in domestic route. Another Dash-8 aircraft will join its fleet this week, while it is going to add an Airbus 300 'very soon' to fly to regional destinations.

The civil aviation chairman said the deal would also allow the operators of both countries to enjoy at least four weekly 'fifth freedom' flights.

Under the fifth freedom rights, airlines from either side can carry passengers to destinations other than the two.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=25808

iasif

February 17th, 2008, 08:02 PM

TIslam

February 18th, 2008, 03:27 AM

My experience with BG & GMG isn't good]:bash::ohno:

Could you please narrate your experiences with BG and GMG? I heard GMG's service was good. Used Biman once after which promised myself, never again.

TIslam

February 18th, 2008, 03:36 AM

As far as inflight service is concerned, my personal best experiences were with SQ (which is obvious) and 9W (I think these people are amazing!)...whose standards are as high as cloud # 90 (yes, ninety) when you compare with BG!

I have no experience with Jet Airways but, Singapore is nothing to write home about, anymore, unless you're flying business or first class. Flew their cattle class LAX-(SIN)-MES-(SIN)-DAC-(SIN)-LAX, last year. Silk Air portion was much better. I used to be a fan of SQ and stuck with them for long. My recent experience makes me looks elsewhere first. Emirates gets my vote for better service in economy class.

amar11372

February 18th, 2008, 04:13 AM

Thats funny because I flew with Biman when they were operating JFK-ZIA route many times and they were ALWAYS on time. Never had a delay with them.

iasif

February 18th, 2008, 04:19 AM

I have no experience with Jet Airways but, Singapore is nothing to write home about, anymore, unless you're flying business or first class. Flew their cattle class LAX-(SIN)-MES-(SIN)-DAC-(SIN)-LAX, last year. Silk Air portion was much better. I used to be a fan of SQ and stuck with them for long. My recent experience makes me looks elsewhere first. Emirates gets my vote for better service in economy class.

9W, in my opinion, is still very good. As for SQ, I've heard of such examples of pax dissatisfaction, but perhaps I'm lucky that I've had pretty good rides with them so far.

I think EK's service on Y class ex-DAC is lousy. On J/F class, or even on Y class ex-DXB they're quite good though! The only airline from the Middle-East which has a decent inflight service even ex-DAC, in my opinion, is QR.

amar11372

February 18th, 2008, 04:19 AM

BestAir

http://www.bestairbd.com/photo_gallery/img01.jpg

TIslam

February 18th, 2008, 04:51 AM

Thats funny because I flew with Biman when they were operating JFK-ZIA route many times and they were ALWAYS on time. Never had a delay with them.

While my outbound flight from JFK wasn't delayed, inbound from DAC was delayed by a day. And even don't get me started on the inflight service!

When folks like us have barely weeks to spend on overseas vacation, delayed flights throw a monkey wrench on the whole experience (enjoyment).

TIslam

February 18th, 2008, 05:53 AM

9W, in my opinion, is still very good. As for SQ, I've heard of such examples of pax dissatisfaction, but perhaps I'm lucky that I've had pretty good rides with them so far.

I think EK's service on Y class ex-DAC is lousy. On J/F class, or even on Y class ex-DXB they're quite good though! The only airline from the Middle-East which has a decent inflight service even ex-DAC, in my opinion, is QR.

I can put up with four hours (DXB-DAC) of lousy service as opposed to ten plus hours of bad!

On my previous questions on BA, is the load factor that low between DAC-LHR, that they cannot justify daily service while they offer daily double from BOM? I thought every person in Sylhet had a relative in the UK.

amar11372

February 18th, 2008, 05:59 AM

I can put up with fours hours (DXB-DAC) of lousy service as opposed to ten plus hours of bad!

On my previous questions on BA, is the load factor that low between DAC-LHR, that they cannot justify daily service while they offer daily double from BOM? I thought every person in Sylhet had a relative in the UK.

The Bangladeshi people in UK are second and third generation. I meet few UK Bangladeshis in NYC they told me that they never visited Bangladesh and that their parents visit Bangladesh once in 10-15 years.

TIslam

February 18th, 2008, 06:54 AM

The Bangladeshi people in UK are second and third generation. I meet few UK Bangladeshis in NYC they told me that they never visited Bangladesh and that their parents visit Bangladesh once in 10-15 years.

That explains a lot. In that case, the only viable markets appear to the middle east and Malaysia. That's not much expansion.

amar11372

February 18th, 2008, 07:22 AM

^^ You forgot the North American market. Record number of Bangladeshis are coming to the USA. I believe the number was 15,000 just in 2007 and its pretty much all first generation in the USA and Canada. I don't have any clue about Australia, but heard is growing steadily. In any case the airlines could just track the inflow of remittances of particular countries and go for growth and expansion in those countries. Ex. 1.Saudi Arabia, 2.USA ...etc

bromora

February 18th, 2008, 12:35 PM

On my previous questions on BA, is the load factor that low between DAC-LHR, that they cannot justify daily service while they offer daily double from BOM? I thought every person in Sylhet had a relative in the UK.

If BA were to fly to ZYL, then no doubt demand would be much higher. As it stands, plenty of options are available when flying to DAC from the UK and at much cheaper prices too.

iasif

February 18th, 2008, 07:13 PM

The World Economic Forum has launched the first-ever Travel and Tourism Index covering 124 countries around the world.

As embarrassing as it is, Bangladesh is ranked at 120 among the 124 countries assessed.

With a score of 3.21 Bangladesh is only ahead of Lesotho, Angola, Burundi, and Chad.

This is a very, very disappointing performance and goes to prove the level of negligience the sector received from all the governments that were at the helm of the country all these years.

We have at least 4 very strong factors in our favour to do much, much better than this:
- over a million (maybe two?) expatriates around the world
- average annual economic growth rate of 5% through the last decade
- The Sundarbans
- Cox's Bazar

Here's the link to the official site:
http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/TravelandTourismReport/CompetitivenessIndex/index.htm

:mad:

tanzirian

February 18th, 2008, 08:38 PM

^^ I think we are slowly turning this situation around. I live in a medium sized US town. For a long time you could find nothing about BD in travel guide books I found in book stores, and certainly not on TV. Then, a couple of years ago, I saw a very nice series called "Himalaya" on Travel Channel...in the last episode, the host goes to Sylhet, then takes the Rocket steamer to Sundarbans. And a few weeks ago, flipping through a travel book about interesting places to see, I came across an article on Rocket. These are very small baby steps but shows that we are headed in the right direction. I am still waiting for National Geographic to do a good article on BD. It irritates me that they have ignored one of the world's most populous countries when they have done reports on practically every other place. They have done just two proper articles so far...one in the 1950s and again right after independence. Since then the only pics / mention of the country have been in relation to natural disasters, population control, and climate change. When a real article shows up again I will consider it an (admittedly unscientific) barometer that we are succeeding in pulling the country into the international consciousness.

Moin

February 18th, 2008, 09:30 PM

Best Air is the third local airline to begin operations on international route by flying to Thailand by mid- March, intensifying competition on the route already has four operators.

“It's exciting. We have got permission from the Thai authority to operate daily flights on the Dhaka-Bangkok route. Hopefully we will start flying on the route by mid-March,” M Haider Uzzaman, chairman of Best Aviation, the parent organisation of Best Air, told The Daily Star.

Best Air will be the latest domestic carrier to fly any international route after Biman Bangladesh Airlines and GMG Airlines. However, the number of domestic airlines now in operation in Bangladesh is five.

Entry of Best Air, which began operation in 1999 through air cargo, is expected to raise competition in the Bangladesh aviation market that grows by 8 percent on an average a year.

This private airline launched its passenger flight in mid-January with a 118-seater Boeing 737-200 on the domestic route. The carrier is also expected to increase its fleet through adding another Boeing 737 this month.

Haider said air traffic growth on the Dhaka-Bangkok route is about 5 percent a year.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines, GMG Airlines, Thai Airways and Druk Air are operating flights on the Dhaka-Bangkok route.

Imran Asif, an aviation industry consultant, however raised the profitability issue for the Best Air as it will be the fifth operator on the Dhaka-Bangkok route.

“Competition on the route is fierce. I think it will be difficult for any new entrant to make profit,” he said.

The Best Aviation chairman is, however, hopeful of good business.

“The standard of our services will go up with more passengers travelling by Bangladeshi airlines, enabling us to save foreign currencies. We will also work for developing eco-tourism in Bangladesh,” he said.

Experts said bulk of foreign currency has been drained out of the economy due to failure of national carrier Biman, which has been losing out its market share to foreign carriers that enjoy about 90 percent of total volume of passengers from Dhaka.

Best Air, lion's share of which held by Kuwait's Aqeeq Aviation Holding, became one of the last entrants here followed by entry of at least five carriers, including one domestic operator United Airways, last year.

“We are proud that the government has given us the permission to operate flights in four countries as the third designated carrier from Bangladesh,” Haider said, adding that the Best Air has plans expansion of its business to India, China and Malaysia.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=23975

iasif

February 18th, 2008, 09:31 PM

^^ I think we are slowly turning this situation around.

The link I mentioned will take you to the index of 2007. The index for 2008 is due in March...in just over a month's time from now...which should reveal improvements, if any.

If you download Part 3 of the document from the link above, you'll find a couple of pages on Bangladesh and the indicators based on which the assessment was performed. Even if you hypothetically improve on the figures therein, I don't think too many of the listed competitive disadvantages would still come off the list.

We need to change, for better, a lot more than we did.

manbil777

February 19th, 2008, 12:59 AM

One thing that expats can do to improve the situation is by blogging and writing on wikis. If all of us educated Bangladeshis did it -- the situation would improve a lot.

I recently saw some very well done wikis on Bangladesh at Wikitravel. The neat thing about these are that you can actually add to the pages and improve the articles. The operative word here is to 'add' responsibly -- though. I suggest you guys take a look.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Bangladesh

http://wikitravel.org/en/Dhaka

kodbel

February 19th, 2008, 01:13 AM

tanzirian

February 19th, 2008, 01:38 AM

The link I mentioned will take you to the index of 2007. The index for 2008 is due in March...in just over a month's time from now...which should reveal improvements, if any.

We should not be overly concerned about it. Let's focus on economic development...tourism will follow suit. I was watching another travel show on South Korea...I think it was part of the Globetrekker series. The host noted that South Koreans really didn't care whether foreigners came to visit or not. I think SK is a good role model for BD...they were dirt poor four decades ago (even poorer than we were at that time, I think)...and they have developed into a major economic power without significant natural resources, political or military clout.

On topic of Globetrekker...this is one show I hope will do an episode on Bangladesh some day. The show is based on the Lonely Planet guide books. Here in the USA, Lonely Planet offers the only travel guide book for Bangladesh. I have seen this book on shelves in big cities, but not in a smaller place like mine.

tanzirian

February 19th, 2008, 01:40 AM

I found out about "Himalaya" a few months back, when looking at Michael Palin's biography. It's a very good travel documentary alike any other BBC & Mchael Palin production. I did post the Bangladesh part of the documentary in the other thread but it was overlooked.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=17328460&postcount=119

The shipyard in Patenga seems to attract a lot of attraction for Bangladesh. I am not sure, but I guess I say Jeremy Clarkson of TopGear in another documentary in the shipyard as well.

Thanks Kodbel...you're right I hadn't noticed your thread before. I may try to get the dvd for "Himalaya" some day...it was a very good series. Travel Channel also showed another series by Michael Palin..."Sahara"...I watched one or two episodes but wasn't as interested. I am now watching "Mekong" on HD Theatre...this is another excellent series...covering the five countries through which the river flows.

TIslam

February 19th, 2008, 02:07 AM

Thanks Kodbel...you're right I hadn't noticed your thread before. I may try to get the dvd for "Himalaya" some day...it was a very good series. Travel Channel also showed another series by Michael Palin..."Sahara"...I watched one or two episodes but wasn't as interested. I am now watching "Mekong" on HD Theatre...this is another excellent series...covering the five countries through which the river flows.

Is Mekong also with Michael Palin?

Tmac

February 19th, 2008, 02:42 AM

http://www.thedailystar.net/photos/2008-02-19__bus05.jpgBest Air to launch international flight on Mar 17

The Best Air will launch international flight on the Dhaka-Bangkok route on March 17, top official of the private airliner said.

‘We are starting our daily flights on the Dhaka Bangkok route from March 17,’ M Haider Uzzaman, chairman of the Best Aviation, told New Age on Monday.

Official of the airline said they are eyeing significant market share on the Dhaka-Bangkok-Dhaka route which is a commercially stable route but its potential is little exploited by the Bangladeshi airliners, he said.

Haider said around 500 passengers fly between Dhaka and Bangkok everyday.

‘At present Thai Air has grabbed the major share of the market. Offering convenient services with the lowest airfare to passengers from a Bangladeshi Airliner, we want to occupy the market soon,’ said boss of the Best Air.

At present state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airline and private sector airliner GMG operate several flights between Dhaka and Bangkok.

The Best Air will launch flight to Kuala Lumpur, Kun Ming in China and Chennai in Indian from Dhaka very soon. The airline has also plan to operate flights to destinations in Middle East and other parts in the world.

Best Air, the fourth Bangladeshi Airliner, started operation of the country’s largest passenger carrier on the Dhaka-Chittagong-Dhaka route on January 14.
http://www.newagebd.com/busi.html

Best Air cuts fare

The Best Air has reduced one way fare on the Dhaka-Chittagong route by Tk 600. Under an exclusive package ‘Spring Special Fare,’ the private aviation company will now charge Tk 3300 for one way traveling on the route from Tuesday (today). Earlier, the tariff was fixed at Tk 3900. The Best Air launched its maiden flight in the Dhaka-Chittagong route on January 14 last, said a press release of the airliner.

http://www.newagebd.com/busi.html

TIslam

February 19th, 2008, 03:05 AM

What else is new?

http://www.weeklyholiday.net/met.html#03

TIslam

February 19th, 2008, 04:40 AM

http://www.newagebd.com/oped.html#1

Imran

What do you think about the op-ed (referenced above)?

tanzirian

February 19th, 2008, 05:04 AM

Is Mekong also with Michael Palin?

No, it's called "Mekong-Soul of a River" (I think)...it has a narrator but not a host per se. It looks at families and wildlife along the river with each episode on a different country. I've liked it a lot so far...it has a slow paced, contemplative quality to it.

TIslam

February 19th, 2008, 05:23 AM

No, it's called "Mekong-Soul of a River" (I think)...it has a narrator but not a host per se. It looks at families and wildlife along the river with each episode on a different country. I've liked it a lot so far...it has a slow paced, contemplative quality to it.

So this is a DVD you bought/rented and not on TV?

tanzirian

February 19th, 2008, 05:34 AM

So this is a DVD you bought/rented and not on TV?

No, it's on a channel called HD Theatre (formerly Discovery HD).

iasif

February 19th, 2008, 05:54 AM

http://www.newagebd.com/oped.html#1

Imran

What do you think about the op-ed (referenced above)?

Rubbish. As simple as that.

The man is a Flight Engineer at Biman, and he and his fellow mates NEED THREE-MEN COCKPITS to keep their jobs...hence the talk about 747 classics!

Tell this man that Biman should buy used 747-400s, and he'd still oppose by saying the -400s are much too expensive to buy! Better still, if he thinks Biman needs 'larger capacity aircraft' as he says, someone go and tell him that we should then take the A380s...a dozen of them!

I can't even figure out how he's doing his maths here. He says by ordering aircraft worth US$ 1.6b Biman would have to pay US$ 3.2b in 10 years. Where did he get that from? Firstly, the US$ 1.6b would be the list prices, not offered prices by Boeing or Airbus. Secondly, I can't see how Biman would have to pay TWICE as much in 10 years...that too once the GoB ratifies the Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol!

This gentleman (diplomatically calling him that) apparently is taking the ENTIRE MARKET for granted for Biman when he goes to divide 600,000 people by 365 days to figure out the number of Jumbos (-300s, all the way) Biman should buy! And he thinks SV, EK, EY, GF, GR are all going to sit on their arses and sucking on their thumbs and wonder how to get some of these people away from Biman to fly on them?

Also, going by his theories, these manufacturers should be asked why they're bothering so much about building more efficient airplanes when they could just go on building classic Jumbos, and DC-10s, maybe even some 707s, DC-8s...Convairs...Constellations...!

And I'm sure the price of jet-fuel isn't of much concern to him. It isn't alarming that the prices of jet-fuel rose by 47.5% within the last 1 year, standing at US$ 108.9/barrel and pushing upwards.

And he also says: "The anticipated signing by the Government of Bangladesh of the Cape Town Convention and the Aircraft Protocol will only guarantee the aircraft, in such circumstances, will be impounded even from the ZIA, the Chittagong Shah Amanat or the Sylhet Osmani International Airports."

Yeah, that's an issue NONE of these states who has ratified it had thought of...and here we have a genius to point it out to us!

All these airlines who have ordered/are operating thousands of these B777s, B787s, A330s, A340s are all jackasses for having neglected the good old 747-300s (of which under 70 had been built by Boeing).

And the new wing, the winglets, and new engines on the 747-400/747-8 are no good either....its so much better to have a THIRD ass (literally speaking) in the cockpit instead!

Oh, and we should run Biman as an airline that will build its fleet through begging for aircraft forever. We did it in the 70s when the airline was young and we had no idea where to get the money to buy planes from, and we should continue to have no idea where to get the money from to buy any planes...instead, we should our diplomats to be the dogs to lick the feet of the kings and the emirs and get our planes for free...YEAAA!

Errr...excuse me...I think I'm gonna puke!

TIslam

February 19th, 2008, 06:20 AM

Rubbish. As simple as that.

I think you should rebut his op-ed.

manbil777

February 19th, 2008, 08:51 AM

No, it's on a channel called HD Theatre (formerly Discovery HD).

If you have an HD receiver for Dish Network-- the show is on channel 5710.

Look in the Directv channel guide as well -- I believe it is on
Channel: 76 HDTH; Air Time: Sunday, February 17 11:00 PM EST; Duration: 60 minutes;

http://www.asiasteps.com/archives/204

I really liked the show -- very well made. Vietnam's Mekong delta looks very similar to Bangladesh's Ganges delta and the issues people face in both places are also very similar.

iasif

February 19th, 2008, 10:24 AM

I think you should rebut his op-ed.

I don't even want to waste my energy on rebutting self-centred idiots. And even if I did, the press won't print my words the way I'd like to put them out.

TIslam

February 19th, 2008, 02:46 PM

I don't even want to waste my energy on rebutting self-centred idiots. And even if I did, the press won't print my words the way I'd like to put them out.

I can understand your reaction however, without rebuttals of op-ed(s) published in today's newspapers, the public in general cannot become aware of issues and problems, the hiddens agendas and vested interests of people who write such opinion columns.

iasif

February 19th, 2008, 08:04 PM

I can understand your reaction however, without rebuttals of op-ed(s) published in today's newspapers, the public in general cannot become aware of issues and problems, the hiddens agendas and vested interests of people who write such opinion columns.

From what I know, Biman is going to get new airplanes. If it doesn't, the airline will be 'officially' biting the dust.

Either way, Biman is soon to get done with 3-men cockpits...so let these thickheaded idiots bark all they want...their nights are numbered.

amar11372

February 19th, 2008, 08:46 PM

amar11372

February 19th, 2008, 09:16 PM

Seems like another Airline is Coming

Private airlines take off, aim higher
4 new airlines to make most of Biman failure, growing demand
Rashidul Hasan and Sarwar A Chowdhury

http://thedailystar.net/photos/2008-02-20__front01.jpg

Aviation industry marks a boom with the launch of three private airlines in last eight months and another set to start commercial flights next month, thanks to a steadily growing demand for air transport.

Private airline operators say the industry is growing by 7.5 to 8 percent every year, adding, the market size of passengers is worth around Tk 3,500 crore.

"The aviation industry witnessed a 7.6 percent growth globally last year and it was also the same in Bangladesh," said Captain Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury, chairman and managing director of United Airways (BD) Ltd, which started operation in July 2007.

Apart from United Airways, Best Air made its debut in mid-January and Aviana Airways, with the brand name Royal Bengal, in late January, both on domestic routes so far.

Earlier, GMG Airlines was the only private airline operating on domestic routes along with national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd.

Anmole Albab Airlines Ltd, another local private airline, under the brand name of A2 Air is set to operate international passenger flights from Bangladesh in March this year. Initially, it will operate flights to the Middle East and Far Eastern countries.

"We have already completed all the procedures to collect two Boeing-747 aircraft to operate flights on international routes," said Wahidur Rahman Rana, chief financial officer of Anmole Albab Airlines.

Retired employees of Biman also formed a body last year to float a new private airline.

Non-resident Bangladeshis' contribution to the industry is significant as they, mostly from the UK and the US, have launched two of the four private airlines.

These airlines are operating flights with 10 different aircraft. GMG has seven aircraft in its fleet with two Dash-8, three Boeing MD-80, one Boeing 737 and one Boeing 747.

United Airways has one Dash-8-100, Best Air one Boeing 737, and Aviana Airways has one Dash-8-100.

The private airlines are also planning to add more aircraft to their fleet so that flights can be expanded to international destinations.

United Airways has already purchased another Dash-8-100 and signed a letter of intent with a Singapore-based company to lease an Airbus A300-310. The airline is also negotiating to lease a Boeing 747-300.

Best Air is going to add another Boeing 737 to its fleet by March this year.

The new private airlines are operating domestic flights on Dhaka to Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet and Jessore routes so far.

Besides, GMG is operating international flights on Dhaka to Kolkata, Delhi, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai routes.

The other private airlines are also planning to launch international flights.

"It'll be very difficult to survive by operating only on domestic routes; it's very much essential to go for international routes," said Tasbir of United Airways, founded by non-resident Bangladeshis mostly from the UK.

He also said they are now waiting for the government nod to operate international flights on Dhaka-Dubai-London, Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka-Dubai, Chittagong-Dubai, Dhaka-Kolkata, and Dhaka-Kathmandu routes.

Like United, Best Air is also planning to launch international flights. "We'll start our international flights on Dhaka-Bangkok route in March this year and on Dhaka to Kuala Lumpur, Kolkata, Chennai and Dubai routes within next six months," said Mohsin Rana, acting manager (marketing and sales).

The private operators said seat utilisation of their aircraft ranges from 30 percent to 60 percent.

The ever-growing demand for air transport on international routes prompted them to go for international flights, they added.

Around 40 lakh passengers fly from Zia International Airport (ZIA) to different foreign destinations every year, while about 1.8-2.4 lakh more aspiring passengers cannot go to the Middle East due mainly to seat crisis, observed Wahidur Rahman of Anmole.

Referring to a study, he said the possibility of getting a ticket to a European or American destination just before a week is only one to two percent.

The possibility stands at 20 percent if the passenger tries one month before the journey, he added. "So, there is a huge scope for Bangladeshi private carriers to operate here and it will be no problem if another two to three private airlines join the industry."

Biman Bangladesh Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer MA Momen welcomed the new private airlines to the country's aviation industry. He said this will create competition among the local private airlines and make them provide standard services.

"With expansion of business and tourism, people's movement is increasing day by day and they are now looking for faster transport like airplanes. That's why the demand for air transport is also increasing," said Habibur Rahman, managing director of Aviana Airways.

"If foreign carriers can do business in Bangladesh, why can't we?” he asked.

http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=24155

Why are the current Airlines welcoming more competition?

iasif

February 19th, 2008, 09:39 PM

Imran I would like to know your opinion on possible merger of Private Airlines, say GMG and United Airlines. They would definitely have a bigger voice in policy making and reduce cost and waiting time to get New international destination approved.

Airline 'mergers' are generally more prevalent in semi-mature/mature markets which are large in size, and has excess capacity (or potential growth thereof) by similarly strong players compared to the size and growth of the market.

Take India for example, where over the past 3-4 years capacity grew over the true demand and growth potential, while most of the airlines had strong investment strengths. This led to the cake (the market) getting more slices and therefore leaving each operator with a lesser volume of passengers to live with. Since the investments were high, this thinner slices of the cake meant the return on investments slowed down significantly for everyone, therefore automatically prompting them for colsolidation through mergers.

It is a similar situation in the US, only the market there being more mature than India. Rising fuel bills and the economic slowdown is leading Delta and Northwest to merge, and a similar merger may take place between Continental and American Airlines.

In Bangladesh, none of these basic principles of mergers apply. The market isn't mature, and the investment strengths are not similar among the airlines either. GMG might buy out airplanes of United/Royal Bengal if they decide to close their shops, but I don't see a 'merger' among these airlines to happen anytime soon.

As for policymaking, trust me when I tell you that I find each and every one of these operators very reluctant to pursue policymaking that will entail COMMON BENEFITS for everyone. Have you ever heard, in any of these numerous interviews and statements given by the management officials of these airlines, complaining about the exorbitant duties on jet-fuel in Bangladesh? Its something that they should all scream and shout and yell and cry against...but yet, no one's even whispering against it!

As for flying on international routes, there aren't any prohibitive regulation on the paper. In India an airline has to operate domestically for 5 years before becoming eligible to fly beyond the border (the obstacle to overcome which Kingfisher bought up stakes at Air Deccan). In Bangladesh, until Novermber 2007 an airline had to operate domestically for 6 months before becoming eligible to apply for international routes...that regulation is no more. By the papers, an airline in Bangladesh can now choose to go international from day one.

The obstacle now is the sheer incompetency and the absolute lack of foresight in part of the the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the CAAB.

TIslam

February 19th, 2008, 10:38 PM

From what I know, Biman is going to get new airplanes. If it doesn't, the airline will be 'officially' biting the dust.

Either way, Biman is soon to get done with 3-men cockpits...so let these thickheaded idiots bark all they want...their nights are numbered.

Are Biman's 310s a two or three person cockpit? Doesn't Biman have to offer a path to conversion from FE to pilot for all the FE and NO they have currently on staff? Or a desk job? I thought that is a standard airline practice. Ansett did that with theirs when they converted all there 767s from 3 person to 2 person cockpit.

iasif

February 20th, 2008, 05:36 AM

Are Biman's 310s a two or three person cockpit? Doesn't Biman have to offer a path to conversion from FE to pilot for all the FE and NO they have currently on staff? Or a desk job? I thought that is a standard airline practice. Ansett did that with theirs when they converted all there 767s from 3 person to 2 person cockpit.

Biman's A310s have 2-crew flightdecks. And if Biman pays off full benefits to these FE/NO's (as they did under the VRS with a 15% bonus) then there's no need to waste money on retraining these people as pilots as they'd have a shorter career left with Biman anyways. Its better to spend money on training pilots who'd serve longer at Biman.

As for desk jobs, I don't think Biman needs that many desks to be occupied by flightdeck crews (pilots, FE's)! It rather needs specialist professionals to help Biman find its way through.

meghnarmajhi

February 20th, 2008, 07:26 AM

Biman's A310s have 2-crew flightdecks. And if Biman pays off full benefits to these FE/NO's (as they did under the VRS with a 15% bonus) then there's no need to waste money on retraining these people as pilots as they'd have a shorter career left with Biman anyways. Its better to spend money on training pilots who'd serve longer at Biman.

As for desk jobs, I don't think Biman needs that many desks to be occupied by flightdeck crews (pilots, FE's)! It rather needs specialist professionals to help Biman find its way through.

It's all the same. Biman has never recruited people without pilot's license and train them to become pilot. biman recruited pilots with ppl (private pilot's license) or cpl (commercial pilot's license - some from air force) and gave them type specific ground, simulator, and air training. Most Civil Aviation Authoroties license them very easily. Remember that they won't have to struggle for hour build-up... they already have a lot of hours. The very last batch of FE's recruited by Biman are from my age group (quite a few of them from batch). Biman will still find it cheaper to groom them as pilots.

lb06040

February 20th, 2008, 09:09 AM

Imran I would like to know your opinion on possible merger of Private Airlines, say GMG and United Airlines. They would definitely have a bigger voice in policy making and reduce cost and waiting time to get New international destination approved.

Mergers in the domestic market are unlikely; perhaps only RBA and United may merge if they wanted; GMG would not merge with anyone as it doesnt need to; its monthly turnover is over 20x larger than RBA, United, and Best Air combined; this is because it already has a substantial international presence; in fact, GMG earns more revenue from just its KL and Dubai flights PER DAY than what RBA, United, and Best Air COMBINED revenues PER MONTH. I doubt the viability of Best Air's international operations; it takes a lot of infrastructural investment and there are various compliance issues that must be cemented before international operations can begin. And even after receiving all regulatory approval which requires the adherance of these compliance guidelines, there has to be space available in the concerned air service agreements.

With all this being said, GMG has not opposed any of the new carriers' explansion plans; when it had to flight hard for 10 years, it has not at all opposed new carriers getting international approval in just a few months without any safety or compliance records; rather it has focused on its own goals and business plan. We hope that the private sector continues to grow; after all, competition is always healthy for the market.

iasif

February 20th, 2008, 01:08 PM

Mergers in the domestic market are unlikely; perhaps only RBA and United may merge if they wanted; GMG would not merge with anyone as it doesnt need to; its monthly turnover is over 20x larger than RBA, United, and Best Air combined; this is because it already has a substantial international presence; in fact, GMG earns more revenue from just its KL and Dubai flights PER DAY than what RBA, United, and Best Air COMBINED revenues PER MONTH.

That's obvious because international operations would generate greater revenues than from purely domestic operations as far as Bangladesh is concerned. And it is also worth to note that generating revenues does not essentially 'guarantee' business sustainability. United Airlines, for example, was generating very good revenues compared to e.g. Alaska Airlines, while it went bankrupt and opted for Chapter 11. Alaska though, was very, very sustainable even against the market odds at that time in the US.

I'm by no means am suggesting that GMG wil go bankrupt! I'm only saying that revenue potential and business sustainability are two completely different issues. GMG will have to work hard, and smart to keep it going...more so as they expand internationally.

I doubt the viability of Best Air's international operations; it takes a lot of infrastructural investment and there are various compliance issues that must be cemented before international operations can begin. And even after receiving all regulatory approval which requires the adherance of these compliance guidelines, there has to be space available in the concerned air service agreements.

As I write this, IATA is wishing to achieve 100% e-ticketing in another 101 days, 07 hours, 06 minutes, and 33 seconds. This is a major area of investment for everyone to take care of, including GMG, if they wish to operate competitively in the international market. While it sounds simple, the work behind the scene is tremendous and demands significant investment, and a continuous expansion of fleet capacity and optimum utilization will be essential to achieve competitive economies of scale.

With all this being said, GMG has not opposed any of the new carriers' explansion plans; when it had to flight hard for 10 years, it has not at all opposed new carriers getting international approval in just a few months without any safety or compliance records; rather it has focused on its own goals and business plan. We hope that the private sector continues to grow; after all, competition is always healthy for the market.

Well, regulations change all the time and no specific airline should have any right to oppose new entrants unless there is a violation of regulations in force. The fact that GMG had to struggle to get international routes (while recent entrants are getting the permission comparatively easily) is tough luck on GMG's part. But then there's a brighter side too...that of having gone through the "learning curve" which should prove to be an extremely valuable, albeit intangible, asset for GMG. If GMG managed to learn from the "curve", I hope it would not repeat instances such as violtaing pilots' duty and rest rules, which in one word is "criminal".

lb06040

February 20th, 2008, 05:18 PM

That's obvious because international operations would generate greater revenues than from purely domestic operations as far as Bangladesh is concerned. And it is also worth to note that generating revenues does not essentially 'guarantee' business sustainability. United Airlines, for example, was generating very good revenues compared to e.g. Alaska Airlines, while it went bankrupt and opted for Chapter 11. Alaska though, was very, very sustainable even against the market odds at that time in the US.

I'm by no means am suggesting that GMG wil go bankrupt! I'm only saying that revenue potential and business sustainability are two completely different issues. GMG will have to work hard, and smart to keep it going...more so as they expand internationally.

As I write this, IATA is wishing to achieve 100% e-ticketing in another 101 days, 07 hours, 06 minutes, and 33 seconds. This is a major area of investment for everyone to take care of, including GMG, if they wish to operate competitively in the international market. While it sounds simple, the work behind the scene is tremendous and demands significant investment, and a continuous expansion of fleet capacity and optimum utilization will be essential to achieve competitive economies of scale.

Well, regulations change all the time and no specific airline should have any right to oppose new entrants unless there is a violation of regulations in force. The fact that GMG had to struggle to get international routes (while recent entrants are getting the permission comparatively easily) is tough luck on GMG's part. But then there's a brighter side too...that of having gone through the "learning curve" which should prove to be an extremely valuable, albeit intangible, asset for GMG. If GMG managed to learn from the "curve", I hope it would not repeat instances such as violtaing pilots' duty and rest rules, which in one word is "criminal".

Imran, before making comments on people violating pilot's duty and rest rules, you should study the facts regarding the whole incident. Dont just read the newspapers, as journalists write what they want; and mostly, it's all rubbish. If you know about that story, you will know GMGs only violation in 10 years was a direct result of CAAB's violation. GMGs safety records, integrity, and business ethics are second to none; newspapers can and always do twist stories; "aviation experts" should see past them.

TIslam

February 20th, 2008, 06:32 PM

iasif

February 20th, 2008, 07:30 PM

Imran, before making comments on people violating pilot's duty and rest rules, you should study the facts regarding the whole incident. Dont just read the newspapers, as journalists write what they want; and mostly, it's all rubbish. If you know about that story, you will know GMGs only violation in 10 years was a direct result of CAAB's violation. GMGs safety records, integrity, and business ethics are second to none; newspapers can and always do twist stories; "aviation experts" should see past them.

Well, I know how newspapers report and didn't make my comment based on what came out in the press. I happen to have the official papers that COSCAP prepared upon its investigation (including the details of the concerned pilots' logbooks AND related payslips too) of the incidents. How I have them is with me is something that I'd rather not disclose, but are you going to tell me that whatever COSCAP found out and reported was all 'rubbish' too?

Besides, if the newspaper reports were all "rubbish" why didn't GMG bother to let the people know the "truth" through a public announcement or through corrective protests of the reports?

Make no mistake, I am not up against GMG, or for that matter any airline. But I'll continue to work with "facts" as they are, whether or not they are at everyone's comfort!

As far as CAAB is concerned, I wholesomely agree with you in saying that it is an organization that is exceedingly incompetent to do their job right. I have been, and will continue to be explicitly vocal against their incompetency until things start changing for better, or I drop dead.

kodbel

February 20th, 2008, 08:00 PM

That's what happens when you operate airlines with fleet consisting of one (aircraft). Of course, no biggie to the airline or its staff, let the passengers suffer!

How does GMG expect to do better than Biman with handful of aircrafts that are over 20 years old? Aren't headed in the same direction?

http://www.bangladeshinfo.com/news/breaking_inner.php?nid=4770

Having technical difficulties is common for any airline, let alone GMG. Even SQ had to cancel their A380 service yesterday due to tech! Details if interested (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/19/221667/fuel-pump-glitch-grounds-singapore-airlines-a380.html)

It's upto the airline on how they manage the situation and their contingency plans. Don't know about GMG in this instance but SQ had to use a 744 with 70 less pax and still faced a 9 hour delay. I shouldn't compare SQ with Z5 but it shows that even competent airline like SQ struggles in crunch time!

If bird strike is the reason for this engine failure then the age of the fleet doesn't matter. If the maintenance and D-checks are properly done, then reliability is not a "big" headache for an old fleet. Efficiency is where old fleets lose out.:bash:

iasif

February 20th, 2008, 08:31 PM

If bird strike is the reason for this engine failure then the age of the fleet doesn't matter. If the maintenance and D-checks are properly done, then reliability is not a "big" headache for an old fleet. Efficiency is where old fleets lose out.:bash:

Spot on!

TIslam

February 21st, 2008, 02:23 AM

Having technical difficulties is common for any airline, let alone GMG. Even SQ had to cancel their A380 service yesterday due to tech! Details if interested (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/19/221667/fuel-pump-glitch-grounds-singapore-airlines-a380.html)

It's upto the airline on how they manage the situation and their contingency plans. Don't know about GMG in this instance but SQ had to use a 744 with 70 less pax and still faced a 9 hour delay. I shouldn't compare SQ with Z5 but it shows that even competent airline like SQ struggles in crunch time!

If bird strike is the reason for this engine failure then the age of the fleet doesn't matter. If the maintenance and D-checks are properly done, then reliability is not a "big" headache for an old fleet. Efficiency is where old fleets lose out.:bash:

:) Point taken.

We'll never know whether the engine failure was indeed caused by a bird strike or not. While it wouldn't be fair to compare GMG with SQ, SQ has more than the wherewithal to find substitute equipment to continue operation, but in GMG's case it is a suspended operation. Same as Biman.

lb06040

February 21st, 2008, 06:44 AM

Well, I know how newspapers report and didn't make my comment based on what came out in the press. I happen to have the official papers that COSCAP prepared upon its investigation (including the details of the concerned pilots' logbooks AND related payslips too) of the incidents. How I have them is with me is something that I'd rather not disclose, but are you going to tell me that whatever COSCAP found out and reported was all 'rubbish' too?

Besides, if the newspaper reports were all "rubbish" why didn't GMG bother to let the people know the "truth" through a public announcement or through corrective protests of the reports?

Make no mistake, I am not up against GMG, or for that matter any airline. But I'll continue to work with "facts" as they are, whether or not they are at everyone's comfort!

As far as CAAB is concerned, I wholesomely agree with you in saying that it is an organization that is exceedingly incompetent to do their job right. I have been, and will continue to be explicitly vocal against their incompetency until things start changing for better, or I drop dead.

Imran, if youre a business, and you have 12 NEWLY HIRED pilots taking big salaries sitting idle for 5 months because their files have not been cleared by CAAB purposely, you might need to over-run your current pilots just a little bit to maintain your schedule; in Bangladesh there are often many political implications on this industry that sometimes aim to make companies suffer and even break rules by force; this...unless you are in the business...will be hard to understand; more so than Biman. Private carriers need a level playing field free from political motivations and vested interests.

Mamun85

February 21st, 2008, 06:50 AM

Aviation industry marks a boom with the launch of three private airlines in last eight months and another set to start commercial flights next month, thanks to a steadily growing demand for air transport.

Private airline operators say the industry is growing by 7.5 to 8 percent every year, adding, the market size of passengers is worth around Tk 3,500 crore.

lb06040

February 21st, 2008, 06:53 AM

Having technical difficulties is common for any airline, let alone GMG. Even SQ had to cancel their A380 service yesterday due to tech! Details if interested (http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/02/19/221667/fuel-pump-glitch-grounds-singapore-airlines-a380.html)

It's upto the airline on how they manage the situation and their contingency plans. Don't know about GMG in this instance but SQ had to use a 744 with 70 less pax and still faced a 9 hour delay. I shouldn't compare SQ with Z5 but it shows that even competent airline like SQ struggles in crunch time!

If bird strike is the reason for this engine failure then the age of the fleet doesn't matter. If the maintenance and D-checks are properly done, then reliability is not a "big" headache for an old fleet. Efficiency is where old fleets lose out.:bash:

Regarding this technical problem, the plane took off at 11 pm, when the ETD was 3:30 pm. So it was 7 odd hours delayed; this is the first delayed flight on GMGs Dubai operations. Since the Feb 1st launch of Dubai flights, all the other 20 flights departed right on time. With a second 747 coming in April, 2 more MD83s coming in April, and 2 767s coming ny July, one would expect the schedules would be better maintained as there would be substitute aircraft. Also, these planes are only temporary as the airline will be utilizing brand new aircraft by mid-late 2009.

iasif

February 21st, 2008, 07:40 AM

Imran, if youre a business, and you have 12 NEWLY HIRED pilots taking big salaries sitting idle for 5 months because their files have not been cleared by CAAB purposely, you might need to over-run your current pilots just a little bit to maintain your schedule; in Bangladesh there are often many political implications on this industry that sometimes aim to make companies suffer and even break rules by force; this...unless you are in the business...will be hard to understand; more so than Biman. Private carriers need a level playing field free from political motivations and vested interests.

I'll put it in your way: if you're in business, especially in Bangladesh, you have to live with a degree of regulatory/political nuisances day in and day out. This struggle, however, does not entitle you to compromise your level of safety by even a hairline under what the standards are supposed to be.

I know well how horribly, and pathetically CAAB deals with pilot licensing...and I can understand your frustration in having a dozen-odd pilot waiting for licenses while you're paying them fat cheques...and the schedule is threatening to fall apart. All this still doesn't permit you, legally and ethically, to "over-run your current pilots just a little bit". And we, the travellers, have a far higher level of expectation from you (GMG) than anyone else in this business in Bangladesh, for all good reasons. And since the level of expectation is this high, we'll be as much shocked when we'll see quallity/safety compromises from you.

This sort of reminds me of the Spiderman slogan: "With big powers, comes big responsibilities"!

My advice, stemming from my very little knowledge, is: try hard to solve the problems (e.g. pilots' licensing issues) rather than getting around the problem in a way that could be deemed unfair (and unexpected from you).

Through 10 long years, GMG has snowballed into becoming as large as it is today, and we know it wasn't an easy roll. Why would you risk spoiling all the hard work with silly compromises?

On another note, let me assure you that CAAB will become far more competent and wise this year than they are now. The scums and the idiots therein will soon be on their way out...it'll get back to Category 1 (by FAA)...and an all-new book of Civil Aviation Rules will be put to force accommodating pilot licensing issues in tune with the practices followed by the better places on Earth!

Good luck! :okay: