The Biman Bangladesh Airlines authority is expecting to add in its network five more international stations in the summer schedule of 2019 which starts from March 28 and continues till October, said a senior official.
The priority routes are Guangzhou, Medinah, Delhi, Colombo and Male.
Biman is scheduled to get four more aircraft - two Boeing 737 under lease agreement by the second week of January next year and two Boeing 787 Dreamliners in September next year - to make a total of 17 aircraft in the fleet.
"Biman has been increasing its network as well as the aircraft in its fleet. We want to open five international routes in 2019 as we'll receive four aircraft in the same year," Biman general manager (public relations) Shakil Meraj told the FE.
The first priority route is Guangzhou, which would be opened by March next.
Although it was scheduled earlier for three times to open the Guangzhou route, the authority had to seek fresh permission from the civil aviation authority of China once again. The authority is hopeful about getting the permission, said the official.
The next priority route is to open the fourth destination in the Middle East (ME) that is Medinah. At present, Biman operates in three ME destinations-Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, he added.
According to Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, around 4.0 million Bangladeshis are living in the ME countries.
The third route is Dhaka-Delhi. Biman plans to resume this route with the connecting passengers heading for Bangkok, Singapore and Yangon, said Mr. Shakil.
He said the marketing and planning research team of the national flag carrier through conducting a survey found the Dhaka-Colombo-Male route highly potential.
The trade relation between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has been increasing gradually. Besides, many Sri Lankans are working in the hotels, garment factories, buying houses and shipping industries in Bangladesh. Many Sri Lankan students have been studying in the medical colleges here too.
On the other hand, the 'lonely planet' has ranked Sri Lanka as the top tourist destination in 2019 while a significant number of Bangladeshi workers live in Maldives who travel via Colombo.
Biman has got the 5th freedom right to carry Maldives-bound passengers from Colombo, said Mr Shakil.
"The yield is very high in Dhaka-Colombo-Male route. That's why Biman is hopeful about this route to be a profitable one," he said.
The Biman authority expects to open the Toronto, Sydney and Manchester routes after receiving the two Boeing 787 Dreamliners next year. Moreover, it expressed the hope to open the Dhaka-New York flight upon achieving the category-1 status.
