“Flight BG-005 carrying about 220 passengers was scheduled to leave Zia International Airport at 9:30am on Sunday but it could not take off as all five toilets of the aircraft were found to be out of order,” a Biman official told the The Daily Star newspaper in Dhaka.
“The flight of the aircraft was rescheduled thrice – first at 2pm, second at 3pm and the last at 11:30pm,” a second Biman official told the media.
Passengers were initially sent to a hotel then bussed back to the airport at lunchtime only to find that the blockages on the Airbus A310 had still not been cleared and the passengers were returned to the hotel. Finally at 10:30pm, the passengers were allowed to board and the flight took off for London at 11:38pm.
The four-times-a-week London-Dhaka route is popular among British-based Bangladeshis as well as bargain hunters seeking cheap flights between Europe and Asia. The airline offers 40kg baggage entitlement in economy class and 50kg in business departing Heathrow.
Biman is to receive four new 777-300ERs to be delivered in 2013, two new 737-800 aircraft in 2015, and four new 787s to be delivered in 2019/2020 to replace the airline’s aging fleet of A310s and DC-10 aircraft.
Kenny Coyle
