In modern Bengali, the word biman refers to "airplane", which comes from the Sanskrit word vimāna and is the name of the airplane mentioned in the ancient Vedic literature. The logo on the plane is a unique stork (? B & ampocirc Raqqa has a red circle in its tail. B&in the 1980s; Ocirc Raqqa was also renamed Biman Headquarters. B & ampocirc Raqqa Co., Ltd. Ocirc class (mirage)
On February 4th, 1972, two DC-3 passenger planes of Bangladesh Air Force opened the Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Jesol and Dhaka-Silkhet routes. 1972 February 10, Biman experienced his first flight accident. A DC-3 crashed near Dhaka, killing five crew members. Bangladesh Airlines immediately leased a DC-6 passenger plane from norwegian air shuttle Company to keep its domestic service running. On March 4th, 1972, Biman started international business and flew to London once a week, using Boeing 707 charter. The short-haul fleet has been updated to use Fokker F27, flying on the routes of Elca Tower (Kolkata) and Dhaka every day. In the first year of operation, Bangladesh Airlines flight 1079 carried more than 380,000 passengers.
With the addition of more Fokker F27 passenger planes, the number of flights from Bangladesh Airlines to Kolkata has increased to twice a day. The addition of Boeing 707 also changed the London flight to twice a week, and Chittagong and Kolkata flights began to operate at the same time. 1974 business expanded to Kathmandu (February), Bangkok (165438+1October) and Dubai (65438+February). 1976 bought another Boeing 707 and expanded its international services to Abu Dhabi, Karachi and Mumbai. 1977 When the third Boeing 707 was purchased in February, Singapore also became an international destination, followed by Jeddah, Doha and Amsterdam, and then the fourth Boeing 707 joined the fleet.
Bangladesh Airlines was transformed into a public sector, and its board of directors was appointed by the government. The international route 1979 extended to Kuala Lumpur, Athens, Muscat and Tripoli, and 1980 reached Yangon, Tokyo and Dhahran.
After 1980s, Bangladesh Airlines' route network was further expanded, including Baghdad (1983), Paris (1984) and Bahrain (1986). On August 4th, 1984, Bangladesh Airlines faced the most serious accident. Fokker F27 crashed near Chittagong, killing all 49 people on board, including the company's first female pilot, Captain Kaniz Fatema Roksana. 1996, Bangladesh Airlines purchased two Airbus A3 10s passenger planes.
In fiscal year 2005-06, Bangladesh Airlines transported 65,438+0,654,38+0.5 million passengers, an increase of 70%. However, with the rise of private airlines in Bangladesh, the domestic market share of Bangladesh Airlines has decreased by 35%.