Biman's Dubai flight rescheduled after 2 Boeing planes hit each other at Dhaka airport

A Dubai-bound flight of Bangladesh Biman Airlines was forced to reschedule on Sunday after the nose of a Boeing aircraft hit the tail of another at the hangar at Dhaka Airport, Biman Managing Director and CEO Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal said today.

Talking to The Daily Star, the Biman chief said, the national flag carrier has formed a committee to investigate the incident to identify why it happened and who were responsible behind the incident, and also to assess the damage.

He said the accident took place when a Boeing aircraft, entering the hangar after completing repair work, hit another aircraft on the parking area.

The Biman MD said both the aircraft – Boeing 737 and Boeing 777 – got scratches during handling and were sent to the engineering and maintenance unit for assessing the damage.

"We are assessing whether the aircraft can be repaired by our engineers and technical persons," he also said.

Sources at the national airliner said the incident occurred on Sunday.

State Minister for Civil Aviation Mahbub Ali inspects the damaged aircraft at the Biman hanger at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Monday, April 11, 2022. Photo: Collected

Both the aircrafts remain grounded at present.

The Dubai flight was later rescheduled on Monday (today), Biman sources said.

This is the third such incident to have occurred since mid-February this year, leading to the grounding of several aircrafts and raising questions about the national flag carrier's maintenance.

On February 15, a Boeing 737 aircraft of Biman was brought back from Malaysia after a windshield crack was noticed mid-flight en route to Kuala Lumpur two days earlier.

On March 6, another Boeing was damaged when a bird hit an engine of the plane during landing at Sylhet MAG Osmani International Airport.

Biman's engineering department and maintenance unit says that with the latest, four aircrafts have been grounded.

Of the four planes, the Boeing 787 damaged at Sylhet airport will be sent to Singapore for repair.

The accidents are caused largely due to carelessness and have the potential to damage public confidence, aviation experts said.

Grounding several aircrafts at a time might create a schedule crisis for Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said insiders of the carrier.