Biman Bangladesh Airlines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 History
2 Destinations
3 Asia
4 Europe
5 Previous destinations
- 5.1 Belgium
- 5.2 United States
6 Fleet
7 Livery
8 Name
9 References
10 External links

<tr><td colspan="3" style="text-align: center; background-color: #FFFFFF;">Image:Biman-logo.jpg</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>Zia International Airport</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Frequent flyer program</th><td>Frequent Flyer Program (No Name)</td></tr>

Biman Bangladesh Airlines বিমান বাংলাদেশ
IATA BG	ICAO BBC	Callsign BANGLADESH
Founded		1972
Fleet size		9
Destinations		35
Headquarters		Image:Flag of Bangladesh.svg Dhaka
Key people		Dr. M. A. Momen (CEO)
Website: http://www.bimanair.com

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Bangla:বিমান বাংলাদেশ ) is an airline based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the national airline and operates domestic services and international routes to Asia, Europe and North America. Its main base is Zia International Airport, Dhaka.

[edit] History

Biman Bangladesh was established on 4 January 1972 and started operations in February 1972, when the Bangladesh Air Force gave the company a Douglas DC-3 that had seen action in World War II as a present. Soon after, a Boeing 707 and Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft joined the airline's fleet, allowing Biman to begin international flights.

In 1983 Biman acquired Douglas DC-10 aircraft, and subsequently other planes such as the Airbus A310, Fokker F28 and British Aerospace BAe ATP. On January 31, 2003, the airline received 2 Boeing 737s.

The airline is 100% owned by the Bangladesh government. However, the government is now planning to offer 40% of Biman to foreign airlines, with the intention that the buyer will assume management control of the carrier. A further 9% of the airline will go to employees.

[edit] Destinations

Biman Bangaldesh operates the following services (at December 2006):

[edit] Asia

[edit] East Asia

China
- Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport)

[edit] South Asia

[edit] Southeast Asia

[edit] Southwest Asia

[edit] Europe

[edit] Previous destinations

[edit] Belgium

Brussels (National Airport) Used as a stop-over for the flights to New York's JFK Airport, which have been discontinued.

[edit] United States

New York (JFK Airport) Banned from landing in New York's JFK Airport due to poor engineering conditions and lack of passenger safety.

[edit] Fleet

The Biman Bangladesh fleet includes the following aircraft (as of August 2006):

4 Airbus A310-300
4 Fokker F28 Mk4000
5 McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 <ref>Flight International, 3-9 October 2006</ref>

Previously operated:

2 Boeing 737-300
2 BAe ATP

[edit] Livery

Dark green and red cheatlines on a white fuselage, with the name "Biman Bangladesh" written in green, in English on one side and Bengali on the other. The name is across the front part of the fuselage. A Bangladesh flag is next to the name. The logo of a stylized white bird flying inside a red circle is located at the tail, with dark green and red lines above and below the red circle.

[edit] Name

The name Bangladesh Biman comes from the Bangla word biman, meaning "airplane". The word biman comes from the Sanskrit word vimāna, a name given to a type of flying machine mentioned in ancient Vedic literature.