Dhaka : Biman Bangladesh Airlines is planning to carry its passengers to the west coast of the United States of America via Japan with the help of other carriers through code sharing, as the national flag carrier is set to resume its Dhaka-Narita route from September 1.

"We are exploring the opportunity to interlink with other airlines through code sharing to fly passengers to onward destinations beyond Japan," said Shafiul Azim, Managing Director and CEO, Biman Bangladesh Airlines at a media briefing held on May 21 at its headquarters in the capital.

The Biman boss further claimed that the flag carrier is ready to start three-weekly flights from Dhaka to Narita in Japan from September 1, 2023.

An air traffic agreement has been formed between Bangladesh and Japan in this regard, where Tokyo allowed Biman Bangladesh Airlines to enjoy a fifth freedom facility in operating flights to the country.

The fifth freedom allows an airline the right to carry passengers from one's own country to a second country, from that country onward to a third country and so on.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has been engaged with the USA's Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) for a long time to upgrade Bangladesh's status to "Category-1" to allow local carriers, including Biman Bangladesh airlines, to operate flights to different destinations in the USA.

Biman MD also noted that Biman is exploring different routes to the USA and Australia through code sharing to make the airlines more competitive in the market.

Code sharing is a marketing arrangement in which an airline places its designator code on a flight operated by another airline, and sells tickets for that flight. Airlines throughout the world continue to form code-share arrangements to strengthen or expand their market presence and competitive ability.