‘Gangchil’, the third Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, is set to spread its wings tomorrow as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the aircraft through a function.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will open ‘Gangchil’ at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) here at 11:30 am on Thursday (Aug 22), state news agency BSS quoted Biman sources as saying.
After the inauguration, ‘Gangchil’ will fly to Dubai in its maiden flight at 5pm on the day.
The third Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, the 15th aircraft of the national flag carrier, was added to the Biman’s fleet on July 25. It landed at HISA directly from the USA’s Seattle’s Boeing Factory in the afternoon on the day.
The prime minister named all the Dreamliners, the sources said.
Earlier, the first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, named as ‘Akash Beena’, arrived here in August last year, while the second one known as ‘Hangsabalaka’ arrived in December last.
In 2008, Biman Bangladesh Airlines signed a US$2.1 billion agreement with Boeing to purchase 10 new aircraft.
Of those, Boeing has already delivered four 777-300ER’s and two 737-800’s and three Dreamliners to Biman.
The fourth Dreamliner ‘Rajhangsha’, the last one of the 10 new aircraft, will be added to the Biman’s fleet next month, the sources said.
Gangchil, the 271-seat Boeing 787-8, has been designed as 20 percent fuel-efficient carrier compared to the other aircraft.
The airliner has the capacity to fly 16 hours nonstop with an average speed of 650 miles per hour.
It provides its passengers with WiFi services at a height of 43,000 feet, allowing passengers to browse the internet or connect with their friends and family at any end of the world.