2 Biman aircrafts grounded after collision in Dhaka airport hangar
A Dubai-bound flight of Bangladesh Biman Airlines was forced to reschedule on Sunday after it hit another Boeing aircraft at the hangar in the Dhaka Airport, according to civil aviation ministry sources.
While a Boeing 8 was entering the hangar of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for maintenance, it rear-ended a Boeing 737.
The weather radar in front of the Boeing 8 was damaged and the vertical stabiliser at the rear of Boeing 737 was broken.
An official civil aviation ministry, wishing anonymity, told The Business Standard that there were operating procedures in place for such incidents, adding the planes would be able to take to the air on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
State Minister for Civil Aviation Mahbub Ali expressed anger over the incident after inspecting the planes on Monday.
He instructed that action be taken after investigating whether the incident was an accident or an act of sabotage.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines formed a committee to investigate the matter following the directive of the minister.
Biman is also assessing whether the aircrafts can be repaired by their engineers and technical persons.
Both aircrafts remain grounded at present. The Dubai flight was later rescheduled on Monday, 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.
On March 6, another Boeing was damaged when a bird hit collided with its engine during landing at the Sylhet MAG Osmani International Airport.
Biman's engineering department and maintenance unit says that with the latest, four aircrafts have been grounded so far.
At present there are 21 aircrafts in Biman's fleet. Of these, four are Boeing 787 Dreamliner, three Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, four Boeing 777-300ER, six Boeing 737-800 and five Dash-8.
