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Thursdays turn direct to Dhaka, skipping Sylhet, while allegations of corruption and controversial new Pakistan routes add salt to the wounds of British Bangladeshis, Daily Dazzling confirmed.
A storm is brewing within the British Bangladeshi community following the release of Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ Northern Summer 2026 schedule for London Heathrow. While the national flag carrier attempts to modernize its routing, the latest update has sparked fears that the airline is slowly disconnecting from its most loyal passenger base in the UK to prioritize controversial new markets and protect internal syndicates.
The Thursday Sylhet Bypass-According to the latest filings, Biman is making a significant operational shift starting in June 2026. While the airline will principally operate five weekly flights on the traditional Dhaka-Sylhet-London Heathrow routing using Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Thursdays will see a drastic change that disadvantages Sylheti passengers.
From June 25, 2026, the Thursday service (BG301/BG302) is scheduled to operate as a direct Dhaka-London Heathrow turnaround. This means passengers traveling on Thursdays will no longer have the convenience of the direct stopover in Sylhet on the outbound or return leg. For the vast majority of British Bangladeshis hailing from the Sylhet division, this "efficiency move" adds hours of travel time and the hassle of domestic transfers, effectively treating the community’s primary destination as an afterthought.
The Manchester Void and Community Suffering- This schedule adjustment comes at a time when tensions are already at a boiling point due to the continued suspension of the Manchester route. The indefinite closure of the Manchester link has left tens of thousands of British Bangladeshis in the North of England—from Oldham to Leeds—stranded without a direct link to their homeland.
Community leaders argue that Biman is deliberately ignoring the suffering of Northern UK passengers who are now forced to travel hundreds of miles to Heathrow or rely on Middle Eastern carriers. The decision to strip services from Manchester while simultaneously reducing Sylhet connectivity from Heathrow on Thursdays paints a picture of an airline that takes its diaspora revenue for granted.
MPs Intervene: "A Lifeline Under Attack"-The crisis has reached the highest levels of British politics, with a cross-party group of MPs officially demanding answers from Biman Bangladesh Airlines. In a heated parliamentary statement, Paul Waugh blasted the "sudden suspension," warning that thousands of elderly and vulnerable constituents are being cut off from their families. "These links are vital for family travel, bereavements, and business," Waugh argued, rejecting Biman’s claim that the route is unsustainable.
Sabotage from Within? While the official justification for shunning Sylheti passengers from Manchester and London remains vague, a disturbing theory is gaining ground within aviation circles. Industry sources report that a major private airline from Bangladesh is aggressively preparing to launch flights on the London-Bangladesh route. US-Bangla Airlines has officially announced plans to commence London flights. This coincidence has sparked serious questions among analysts: Is the national flag carrier deliberately degrading its own premium services—creating a vacuum of dissatisfied passengers—to hand-deliver a lucrative market share to a private competitor? If true, critics argue this amounts to a calculated sabotage of state assets to pave the way for commercial rivals.
The Profitability Paradox: "Full Flights, Empty Excuses"-While Biman management cites "commercial losses" as the primary reason for cutting Northern routes and streamlining Heathrow, the community isn't buying it. Passengers and travel agents report that flights to Manchester and London are consistently fully booked, with ticket prices at premium levels.
"Every time you step onto a Biman flight from the UK, it is packed to capacity," says Newham Councillor Mohammed Muzibur Rahman Jashim, a leading voice of British Bangladeshi community. "To claim they are losing money on full planes is mathematically impossible unless something else is going on. He further remarked that while a shortage of aircraft is being cited as the reason for suspending the Manchester route, new flights are simultaneously being launched to Pakistan."
Critics: Cargo Over Community-Aviation analysts point to a darker motive behind the shift to direct Dhaka services. Critics allege that the decision to bypass Sylhet (and scrap Manchester) is driven by the lucrative commercial cargo sector. Heavy commercial goods are destined for Dhaka, not Sylhet. By forcing a direct Dhaka routing, Biman can prioritize heavy freight contracts over passenger convenience, effectively turning the national carrier into a cargo airline that treats its loyal Sylheti passengers as secondary baggage.
Controversial Prioritization: UK Cuts vs. Pakistan Expansion- Adding insult to injury, industry insiders suggest that aircraft availability is not the true issue. Reports indicate that while the UK routes face cuts and "streamlining," Biman management is actively exploring route expansions into Pakistan.
For the British Bangladeshi community, many of whom carry the trauma and pride of the 1971 Liberation War, the idea that the national carrier would prioritize connectivity with Pakistan while severing links with the remittance-generating heroes in the UK is viewed as a diplomatic and emotional betrayal. This shift in strategy raises serious questions about who is truly pulling the strings in the planning department and why the lucrative UK market is being sacrificed.
The Open Secret: Cargo Sector Corruption- Beyond passenger inconvenience, the financial bleeding of the national carrier is being linked to deep-seated corruption within the UK cargo sector. It is an open secret among logistics operators that dishonest officers stationed in the UK have been manipulating cargo weights for years.
The scheme involves accepting high-weight shipments from UK exporters while recording significantly lower weights on official paperwork. The difference in fees is allegedly pocketed by a corrupt syndicate of officers, causing Biman to fly heavy planes while recording revenue losses. Experts warn that until this "paper weight" corruption is purged, the airline will continue to cry poverty as an excuse to cut passenger routes like Manchester, despite the planes flying full of unreported freight.
Central and UK-based BNP leaders have been actively lobbying in Dhaka—holding press conferences and engaging in various initiatives—to address the suspension of the Manchester route, though these efforts have yet to yield any tangible results.
During a press conference organized by the UK BNP at the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Wednesday (February 4), Humayun Kabir, Foreign Affairs Advisor to the BNP Chairperson, assured that if the party returns to power, the Sylhet-Manchester route will be permanently reinstated. He further pledged that initiatives would be taken to reduce ticket prices through special travel packages.
What Happens Next? As we look toward the summer of 2026, the community must brace for further erratic scheduling. If the Thursday direct-flight trial proves "operationally successful" for Biman’s bottom line, there is a genuine fear that more days will see the removal of the Sylhet stopover.
Pressure is mounting on the Ministry of Civil Aviation to intervene. Unless the British Bangladeshi community unites to demand the reinstatement of the Manchester route, a probe into the cargo handling corruption, and the protection of the Sylhet connection, the national flag carrier may soon become a carrier that serves everyone except the nation's own people.
Although Daily Dazzling Dawn made repeated attempts to contact Riyad Sulaiman, Biman’s Country Manager for the UK and Ireland, to obtain the London office's statement on these issues, his comments could not be included as he did not answer his phone.
