Biman cancels Syedpur flight after glitch-hit aircraft returns to Dhaka

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has finally cancelled its Dhaka-Syedpur flight hours after the pilot flew back to Shahjalal International Airport following a technical glitch in the plane.

The aircraft, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400, started for Syedpur from the Dhaka airport with 65 people on board at 12pm on Tuesday. But it returned to Dhaka after 40 minutes when the malfunction was detected mid-air, officials said.

Shakil Meraj, a general manager at Biman, told bdnews24.com later in the night they had repaired the plane and readied it for flight within 3pm.

“But it was not possible to fly it to Syedpur because of many obstacles. Later, we cancelled the flight,” he said.

Meanwhile, 74 passengers were waiting at Syedpur airport to catch the return flight.

Shakil apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience and said they would get their money back.

Asked what the obstacles were, he said the runway was not free when the plane was fixed.

“When the runway of the Dhaka airport became free around 6pm, the Syedpur Airport control tower officials expressed inability to receive the plane as their duty hours ended,” Shakil said.    

“And when we managed the Syedpur officials to receive the flight, the passengers became irritated and declined to board it. That’s why we had to cancel the flight unexpectedly,” he added.

Shakil brushed aside media reports that the plane had to make an emergency landing in Dhaka due to the glitch.

“Emergency landing is a big issue. The airport authorities have to keep ready at least 10 ambulances and fire crews during an emergency landing. Nothing like that happened today,” he said.

A Syedpur-based Biman official said 74 passengers were waiting to catch the return flight.

“There have been some problems with the cabin pressure. That’s why it returned to Dhaka,” Abu Ahmed, the airline’s manager at the Syedpur airport, told bdnews24.com.

The US-Bangla Airlines flight that crashed in Kathmandu on Mar 12 was also a Dash 8-Q400 plane, manufactured by Canada-based Bombardier Inc.

The crash at the Tribhuvan International Airport is the worst aviation disaster in Bangladesh’s history with 49 of the 71 people on board killed, including 26 Bangladeshis.