Air Sahara proposes to fly into Nepal

Biman Airlines to replace its fleet

As part of its expansion drive and development of an international network, Air Sahara, an India-based domestic private airline, has held a presentation for Nepalese travel agents in Kathmandu,.
"Air Sahara has launched a major expansion drive offering new destinations and connections, and it is important that we make ourselves accessible to the potential customers in the important markets," said Uttam Kumar Bose, Chief Executive Officer of the airline. "We are ready to fly to Nepal if the Indian government permits the domestic airlines to operate in the international sector," he added.
Air Sahara’s Nepal representative and Managing Director of Zenith Travel, Joy Dewan said, "We, at Zenith Travel have been seeing the changes being brought about by Air Sahara over a period of time, and today we are confident that we can offer a very attractive product to the people in Nepal."
Air Sahara, which started operations on December 3, 1993, has a fleet of 25 aircraft including four helicopters. It operates 77 flights daily, offering 8,900 seats to 17 destinations.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines will sell all its 17 aircraft and replace them with Airbus or Boeing jets in hopes of ending decades in the red. Biman will pay the difference between the revenue from selling its aging fleet and the costs of new aircraft, the airline spokesman said. "We are going to sell off our entire fleet of 17 aircraft to replace them with absolutely new ones so that we can cut down overhead costs and emerge as a profit-making organisation," he said. Biman Bangladesh Airlines has proposals from rival aerospace giants - Boeing and Airbus.

"The authorities are now reviewing offers from both the companies as well as the balance amount that has to be paid," the spokesman said. He blamed Biman's financial woes on high overhead costs and said its flights were on average 70 per cent full.
The airline currently has six Airbus and two Boeing jets, along with four McDonnell Douglas DC 10-30 planes, three Fokker F- 28s and two British ATP short-haul aircraft. Biman is the only Bangladeshi airline to fly overseas with 26 international routes.

SriLankan Airlines to have more flights under ‘open sky’ offer
SriLankan Airlines, the national airline of Sri Lanka, has decided to take-up the ‘Open Sky’ offer of the Indian Government and is increasing the number of flights to several Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Trichy.

The airline is to offer a daily flight to Delhi while the number of weekly flights to Mumbai and Trichy will increase from five flights a week at present to six flights.

Similarly, the airline will operate one more flight to Bangalore taking the weekly connections to the city five. In addition, from December 15, the airline will operate a daily service to Mumbai and Trichy while offering a six-times-a-week connection to Bangalore.

In keeping with the open sky offer, the airline has announced that the increase in flights is to be effective only up to February 28, 2004.

Further, between December 16, 2003 and February 17, 2004, SriLankan Airlines is to operate two more flights a week to Chennai.