Biman gets 3 Golds at gala award ceremony

State owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines has secured gold in the category of In-flight Meal (Economy class), Most Improved Services in 2019, and On-board Services (Domestic) in the frequent flyer poll to elect the best airlines for 2019 in different categories announced at the gala award ceremony held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka on Friday evening.

Biman has also been awarded bronze in Economy Class, On Time Performance (Domestic), and Domestic Airline of the Year 2019.

Airlines operating in Bangladesh were awarded in a total of 16 categories including four exclusively for Bangladeshi airlines. Based on the number of votes, winning airlines in each category received Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies. 

Organised by The Bangladesh Monitor, a premier travel and tourism publication of the country, the event was powered by the leading online travel agency ShareTrip.

Emirates was adjudged the Airline of the Year 2019 while Qatar Airways as the Cargo Airline, Air Asia as the Budget Airline and Novoair as the Domestic Airline of the Year.

Over 2300 frequent flyers cast votes online in favour of their preferred airlines. The polling was formally launched on October 13, 2019, and ended on December 20. A high profile independent jury comprising representatives from various professional and social groups thoroughly analysed the polling data and selected the winning airlines.

"The idea of conducting the poll is to assess the popularity of the airlines, operating in Bangladesh; judge their service standards and to create an atmosphere of healthy competitions among themselves," said Kazi Wahidul Alam, editor, The Bangladesh Monitor. 

"We have been observing ever-growing enthusiasm among the frequent flyers about the poll which has been serving as an inspiration for us to organise the event on a regular basis."

The award ceremony was also addressed by Tanveer Ali, director, ShareTrip and executive director, Olympic Group, Daraz Mahmud, general manager, MGH Travelport, Rejaul Amin Sohail, director, MasterCard, Stephen James Peters, general manager, Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka and Prof Shibli Rubayatul Islam, dean, Faculty of Business Studies of University of Dhaka and chairman of the jury committee. 

The Airline of the Year awards were introduced in Bangladesh by The Bangladesh Monitor in 2007. ShareTrip is playing host as the lead sponsor of the Monitor Airline of the Year 2019, while renowned GDS company MGH Travelport, MasterCard and Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka are supporting as the Technology Partner, Payment Partner and Hospitality Partner respectively.