Nadia Farha Mubin
Yesterday, 26 March, on the occasion of Independence Day Biman Bangladesh Airlines resumed Dhaka-Rome direct flight. Today, on 27 March, the first of Biman Dhaka-Rome direct flight BG355 took off from Dhaka Airport for Rome.
Shafiul Azim, the MD and CEO of Biman, said, “We are all set to resume the flight. As per our market analysis, the Dhaka-Rome-Dhaka route will be another popular one, like our London (UK), Toronto (Canada), and Narita (Japan) routes.”
Motivated by the huge number of Bangladeshi expatriate communities residing in Italy, the Dhaka-Rome direct flight is resuming after nine years. Bangladesh Biman initially began operating flights to Rome on April 2, 1981, and stopped on April 6, 2015, after facing financial losses due to massive fuel consumption by some of their aircraft.
The decision to resume the flight was thoroughly assessed from a commercial standpoint while Bangladeshi expatriates in Rome have increased sevenfold since 2009, said the Biman CEO.
“The planning of Biman’s route expansion to different cities in Europe is a reflection of Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s commitment to the expatriate Bangladeshis,” he said.
The Dhaka to Rome flight is Biman’s third European destination for the national flag carrier after London and Manchester.
After the announcement of the Rome flight, visa applications to Italy have increased threefold, the Biman CEO said referring to the Italian Embassy in Dhaka.
Azim also mentioned that he is also considering using Rome as a stopover for Biman’s Dhaka-Toronto-Dhaka flight. The national carrier is currently using Istanbul for refuelling its Canada-bound flight.
On 27 March the inaugural flight is scheduled to depart Dhaka at 3:30 am from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA). On 26 March an inaugural ceremony was held at 9:30 pm at the airport which will have M Faruk Khan, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister in attendance as the chief guest along with Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Antonio Alessandro.
The Dhaka-Rome direct flights will be conducted three times a week every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
Between March 27 and March 31, flight BG-355 will depart Dhaka every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 2:00 a.m. local time and reach Rome at 7:00 a.m. local time.
From April 1, the flight will take off from Dhaka every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 3:00 am as per the summer schedule and arrive at the capital of Italy at 9:10 am.
The flight will leave Rome at 10:45 a.m. and land in Dhaka at 11:45 p.m.
Biman has expressed its plans to expand its operations to newer routes. This December, they will be resuming flights on the Dhaka-New York route as well, for this they are applying for a “Foreign Air Carrier Permit”.
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