Biman facing problems resuming Dhaka-Rome flights

Biman has been facing problems with resuming flights on the Dhaka-Rome route due to the US sanctions on Iran.

According to Biman, flights on this route would have to fly over Iranian airspace and the national airliner would need to pay an overflying charge to the country, as per international rules.

"The US is not allowing us to make overflying charge payments to Iran on the grounds of sanctions. If we cannot pay the overflying charge, Iran will not allow us to fly over its sky," a top official of Biman told The Daily Star.

"We have already paid some money to Iran and US is creating problems over it," said the Biman official.

Wishing anonymity, the Biman official also said, "We will have to change the flight path if we cannot use Iranian airspace, meaning that we will have to use sky of three additional countries which will extend the duration of the flight for around one-and-half-an-hour."

It takes around nine hours for Biman to reach Rome using Iran's airspace.

Insiders in Biman said using the airspace of three other countries will increase costs due to extra fuel and overflying charges, which the passengers would ultimately bear as it would significantly increase air tickets.

Asked, the Biman official said, "We have already informed USA through the foreign ministry in this regard. But we are yet to get any response."

Biman was planning to overfly the sky of Pakistan, part of Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia to reach Rome.

Biman has already started selling tickets for flights on the Dhaka-Rome routes as the national flag carrier is set to resume operations from March 26, marking Independence Day.

Between March 26 and March 31, flight BG-355 will depart Dhaka every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 2:00am local time and reach Rome at 7:00am local time.

From April 1, the flight will take off from Dhaka on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at 3:00am as per the summer schedule and arrive at the capital of Italy at 9:10am.

The flight will leave Rome at 10:45am and land in Dhaka at 11:45pm.

The minimum one-way fare for the economy class on the Dhaka-Rome route, including all taxes, will start at Tk 64,355 and the round-trip will cost Tk 104,568. The business class ticket will be priced at Tk 144,105 and Tk 258,568 for one-way and round trips, respectively.

On the Rome-Dhaka route, the minimum one-way economy class fare will start from Tk 48,788 and Tk 89,852 for the round trip.

The one-way and round-trip fares for the business class will start at Tk 122,663 and Tk 222,236, respectively, the press release said.

Currently, Biman is offering special discounts on the occasion of the resumption of flights on the route. The flight will be operated with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Biman began to fly to Rome in 1981 and it was discontinued in 2015 due to persisting losses.