A microbus of US-Bangla Airlines hit a Boeing-737 aircraft of national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka yesterday.

The incident occured at 10pm on Saturday night, Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, managing director & CEO (Additional Secretary) of Biman, said.

He said the authorities are investigating the matter. “We reported the incident to the Boeing Company to repair it as soon as possible.”

He added that US Bangla will bear the repair cost for the damages.

Biman spokesperson Tahera Khandaker said, that a proposal for repairing suggestions has already been sent to Boeing.

According to sources, the microbus hit the grounded Boeing-737 at the airport hangar while moving through the bay.

The aircraft in question returned to Dhaka from Sylhet on Saturday and was grounded at Bay 12AN of the airport.

It was expected to fly out to Chittagong on Sunday. Even though another aircraft replaced it, flight schedules were disrupted which will take another two days to fix, according to Biman.

The Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh (CAAB) and Biman have launched a joint investigation over the matter.

Meanwhile, aviation expert ATM Nazrul Islam said: “Those driving inside the airport need to recheck their driving skill and license.”

Not the first time

This is the fourth such incident to have occurred since mid-February this year, leading to several aircraft being grounded and raising questions about the national flag carrier’s maintenance.

On April 11, a flight to Dubai had to be cancelled after the nose of a Boeing aircraft hit the tail of another aircraft at the hangar. Both the aircraft – Boeing 737 and Boeing 777 – were scratched during handling.

According to people familiar with the issue, these incidents could have been avoided with advanced and careful 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.

- B