The fourth Dreamliner 'Rajhangsha' last in the row of 10 new aircraft for the national flag carrier, will arrive in Dhaka from USA’s Seattle Boeing Factory on Thursday (Sept 9).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally inaugurate the brand new Boeing 787-8 aircraft as the 16th plane of the Biman fleet on Sept 14, confirmed General Manager (Public Relations) Tahera Khandakar.
A delegation comprising officials of Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry, Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines are now in Seattle to receive the aircraft from the Boeing company.
Four pilots of Biman led by its Chief of Flight Safety Captain Shoeb Chowdhury are with the delegation to fly the aircraft to Dhaka.
Earlier, the first and second Dreamliner Boeing 787-8, named “Akash Beena” and “Hangsabalaka” respectively, arrived here on August and December last year, while the third one known as Gaangchil arrived in July last.
In 2008, Biman Bangladesh Airlines signed a US$2.1 billion agreement with Boeing to purchase 10 new aircrafts, according to state news agency BSS.
Of those, Boeing has already delivered four 777-300ER’s and two 737-800’s and three Dreamliners to Biman.
'Rajhangsha', the 271-seat Boeing 787-8, has been designed as 20 percent fuel-efficient carrier compared to the other aircrafts. The airliner has the capacity to fly 16 hours nonstop with an average speed of 650 miles per hour.
It will provide its passengers with Wi-Fi services at a height of 43,000 feet, allowing passengers to browse the internet or connect with their friends and family from any place in the world.
Apart from that Biman also purchased three brand new Dash-8 Q400 aircraft from Canada. Canadian Bombardier company will deliver the aircrafts between March and June 2020.