NATIONAL flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines is aiming to double its fleet and passenger numbers over the next two years, sealing a multi-million dollar agreement with SITA to upgrade its infrastructure.
Kevin John Steele, managing director and CEO, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said: “Over the next two years, we plan to double both our fleet and our passenger numbers, while also improving customer service and significantly reducing our operational costs.
“SITA will help us upgrade our systems architecture, which will enable us to launch new user-friendly products, as well as innovative tools for our staff. In addition, SITA will proactively manage our network infrastructure in line with our specific business objectives, so we can focus on our growing business, while remaining up-to-date with the latest technology.”
The 10-year deal will see SITA provide infrastructure at Biman’s global locations and deploy a new private automatic branch exchange at Biman’s offices in Dhaka, which will be integrated into the airline’s call centre.
SITA will also deliver a suite of applications adapted to the airline’s needs to any device and location as part of its flexible, on-demand IT services and industry software offerings, allowing for the creation of efficiencies across data, servers and applications.
It will equip Biman staff with tablets integrated with business applications to enhance in-flight services.
Separately, Biman has signed an agreement with Dutch-Bangla Bank for the use of the latter’s Nexus Payment Gateway to settle online transactions, thereby allowing cardholders with locally-issued Visa, MasterCard and Nexus Debit Cards issued by Dutch-Bangla Bank to book flights directly through the Biman site.
Dutch-Bangla Bank alone accounts for almost 2.5 million out of the total four million payment cards used in Bangladesh.
