Two Biman Bangladesh aircraft collided during handling at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Sunday.
As a result, a Dubai-bound flight of the national flag carrier had to be rescheduled on Monday.
The incident occurred when the nose of one of the Boeing aircraft hit the tail of another and caused some visible damage. Both the aircraft – Boeing 737 and Boeing 777 – were scratched during handling and were sent to the engineering and maintenance unit.
The incident occurred sometime after 3:00pm on Sunday, said Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, managing director and CEO of Biman.
“We have formed a committee to investigate the incident. They are trying to identify the reason behind the unfortunate accident and assess the damage. We will take steps against people who are behind this incident,” the Biman chief said.
State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali inspected the damaged aircraft at the Biman hanger at HSIA on Monday while visiting the ongoing work of the third terminal.
This is the third such incident to have occurred since February this year, leading to the grounding of several aircraft 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 say that with the latest, four aircraft have been grounded.
Of the four planes, the Boeing 787 damaged at Sylhet airport will be sent to Singapore for repair.
