Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 28, 2008



Biman Bangladesh Airlines is the National Flag Carrier of Bangladesh, with its main hub at Zia International Airport in Dhaka. It also operates flights from Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong and earns significant revenue from the connecting service to Osmani International Airport in Sylhet. Currently it provides passenger and cargo service in different international routes in Asia and Europe along with major domestic routes. It has Air Service Agreements with 42 countries; but maintains flights to only 18 at present. Until July 2007 the airline was wholly owned and managed by the Government of Bangladesh; on 23 July 2007, it was transformed into Bangladesh's largest Public Limited Company by the Caretaker government of Bangladesh. Created in February 1972 using vintage aircraft, Biman enjoyed an internal monopoly in Bangladesh aviation industry until 1996. In the decades following its founding, the airline expanded both its fleet and its horizon (at its peak Biman operated flights to 29 international destinations with New York – John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York City) in the west and Tokyo – Narita in the east), but suffered heavily owing to mass corruption and frequent mishaps. After becoming a public limited company, Biman has trimmed the number of staff and turned its attention to modernizing the fleet. (more...)

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