Biman to resume Yangon flights in November

Biman Bangladesh Airlines will resume its Dhaka-Yangon flights in November, Kevin Steele, managing director of the state-run carrier, said yesterday.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an air service agreement yesterday, which will allow each country to operate seven flights a week.
In October 2006, the national flag carrier suspended its operation on the route due to a shortage of aircraft.

Biman will run flights on the Dhaka-Yangon route with two turbo-prop aircraft that it has already moved to lease, Steele said.
The airline plans to resume flights on a number of domestic routes in November following the lease of the two cost-effective turbo-prop planes, Steele said.
Biman floated a tender for the second time for the lease and expected to get the aircraft by October.
Except for Chittagong and Sylhet from where international flights operate, Biman suspended flights on all domestic routes in September last year to cope with a sudden shortage of aircraft and to continue uninterrupted hajj flights.
The government has invested around Tk 15,000 crore in the aviation sector, with more in the pipeline, said Civil Aviation Minister Faruk Khan who attended the agreement signing ceremony at the Caab headquarters.
Air Vice-Marshal Mahmud Hussain, chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, and Win Swe Tun, deputy director general of the Department of Civil Aviation of Myanmar, signed the deal.
The government has reduced aeronautical charges on domestic route to promote operations on them, he said.