Biman Bangladesh Airlines

In January 1972, with a WWII Douglas DC aircraft donated by the Bangladesh Air Force, Air Bangladesh International was born and Bangladesh's national carrier emerged. Not long after its conception, the name of the airline was changed to Biman Bangladesh Airlines. The word 'biman' comes from a Sanskrit word found in ancient Vedic literature in reference to a kind of flying machine.

The early days of Biman Bangladesh Airlines were spent expanding its fleet and services. Things got under way with two Fokker F27s which flew between the capital city of Dhaka and Chittagong and Sylhet. When the company acquired a Boeing 707, it began offering international flights. The airline bought three Douglas DC10 planes in 1983 from Singapore Airlines to expand its long-haul reach, and for the next 20 years these aircraft were the only jets used on Biman's long-haul flights.

Being that these were the only planes the company had for long hauls, they were well serviced and had no major malfunctions during their years of service. The Fokker planes used for domestic flights however were commonly breaking down and gained a reputation for being unreliable. In the 1990s, Biman acquired new Airbus planes for its international routes, as the US and EU had banned the DC10s from passenger use due to safety concerns.

The company has always been owned by the Bangladesh government and in the 1980s, the prime minister of the country served as Biman's president. The company has been plagued with corruption at all levels of operation and in 2007, the ex-prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia's brother, a former engineer at Biman, was arrested on various corruption charges. More investigations led to 35 employees being forcefully retired.