Biman set to resume direct Rome flight on Tuesday night

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is set to resume its Dhaka-Rome-Dhaka direct flight from Tuesday (26 March) night after nine years in a move driven by the presence of a large number of Bangladeshi communities in Italy.

"We are all set to resume the flight. As per our market analysis, the Dhaka-Rome-Dhaka will be another popular one like our London (UK) Toronto (Canada) and Narita (Japan) routes," Biman's Managing Director and CEO Shafiul Azim told BSS on Monday (25 March).

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Faruk Khan is scheduled to be present as the chief guest along with Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Antonio Alessandro at the opening ceremony at 9:30pm at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport while the inaugural flight is scheduled to depart Dhaka at 3:30am Tuesday.

Expressing his optimism regarding the commercial viability of the Rome route, Azim said the decision to resume the flight was thoroughly assessed from a commercial standpoint while Bangladeshi expatriates in Rome have increased sevenfold since 2009.

"The planning of Biman's route expansion to different cities in Europe is a reflection of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's commitment to the expatriate Bangladeshis," he said.

The Dhaka to Rome flight will be Biman's third European destination as currently the national flag carrier is operating flights to London and Manchester.

Biman's chief said they are working on interlining with Alitalia Airlines, the largest carrier in Italy to get passengers from other major cities of Italy and other European major cities.

Interlining is a commercial agreement between airlines that allows them to sell each other's tickets and services to passengers on itineraries with more than one flight.

Referring to the Italian Embassy in Dhaka, Azim said after the announcement of the Rome flight, the visa applications to Italy have increased threefold.

It is expected that the direct flight will not only cater to Dhaka-bound passengers but also serve as a hub for passengers from other cities like Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore.

Azim said he is also planning to use Rome as a stopover for Biman's Dhaka-Toronto-Dhaka flight as currently, the state-owned carrier is using Istanbul for refueling its Canada-bound flight.

"As we have set up our station in Rome, it will be cost-effective if we use Rome instead of Istanbul for refuelling our Toronto flight," he said.

Bangladesh Biman initially began operating flights to Rome on 2 April 1981 and stopped on 6 April 2015, facing financial losses due to massive fuel consumption by the then DC-10 carrier and aircraft shortages.

This time, Biman will operate the Rome direct flight with its brand new state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner that will reduce travel time between Bangladesh and Italy to just 9 hours.

Biman's Sales and Marketing Director Mohammad Salahuddin said, so far, they are getting positive responses on the route as 190 economy seats out of 247 have already been sold out for the inaugural Dhaka-Rome flight. On the return flight, Biman got more response as all the economy seats have been sold out along with 10 business-class seats.

He expected that Biman's Dhaka-Rome-Dhaka flight would get maximum cabin factor within a few months as expatriate Bangladeshis usually buy their tickets three to four months ahead of their travel date.

Between 27 to 31 March, 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 1 April, the flight will take off from Dhaka on every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 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