Biman Bangladesh Airlines

Biman Bangladesh Airlines was launched on 4 January 1972 to be Bangladesh's national airline under the Bangladesh Biman Ordinance .The initiative to launch the national flag carrier was taken by 2,500 former employees, including 10 Boeing 707 commanders and 7 other pilots, of PIA, who submitted a proposal to the government on 31 December 1971 following the independence of Bangladesh. The airline was initially called Air Bangladesh International but was soon renamed Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

In modern Bengali, the word বিমান biman refers to "aeroplane", originating from the Sanskrit word vimāna, a name given to a flying machine mentioned in ancient Vedic literature. The logo, painted on the tail, is a stylized white stork inside a red circle. The initial livery was a dark blue line extending across the aircraft along the windows and covering the tail section. This was replaced in the 1980s by dark green and red lines, matching the colours of the Bangladesh flag, and has remained in place for over two decades. The bôlaka has also given its name to the Biman headquarters, the বলাকা ভবন bôlaka bhôban (Stork Building), and a landmark sculpture in Dhaka depicting storks is in front of Biman's former headquarters.

On 4 February 1972, Biman started its domestic service on the Dhaka–Chittagong, Dhaka–Jessore and Dhaka–Sylhet routes with a World War II vintage Douglas Dakota and Douglas DC-3, both gifts from the Bangladesh Air Force. On 10 February 1972, Biman experienced its first accident when the Douglas DC-3 crashed near Dhaka during a flight test, killing all five crew members. A Douglas DC-6 was immediately leased from Troll Air, a Norwegian airline, to keep the domestic service running. On 4 March 1972, Biman started its international operations with a once-a-week flight to London using a Boeing 707 chartered from British Caledonian. The short haul fleet was supplemented by a Fokker F27 from India on 3 March 1972 which saw the start of a daily flight between Kolkata (Calcutta) and Dhaka on 28 April 1972. Three additional Fokker F27s were acquired during March and September of the same year bringing the number of Fokker F27 aircraft to four. In the first year of operation, Biman operated 1,079 flights carrying just over 380,000 passengers.

Four additional Fokker F27s, purchased from Australia and the Netherlands, joined the fleet in 1973 enabling Biman to double the frequency of the Kolkata flight to a twice daily service. A Boeing 707 was added to the fleet in September and the flight to London became twice weekly, while a Chittagong–Kolkata flight also began operating at the same time. In 1974 operations were extended to Kathmandu (February), Bangkok (November) and Dubai (December). In 1976, Biman sold two of its Fokker F27s and bought another Boeing 707 to extend international services to Abu Dhabi, Karachi and Mumbai. Singapore was added to Biman's list of international destinations, when a third Boeing 707 was purchased in February 1977, followed by Jeddah, Doha and Amsterdam the following year which also saw the purchase of its fourth Boeing 707, from the United States. In 1977, Biman was converted into a public sector corporation to be governed by a board of directors appointed by the government. The airline broke even for the first time in 1977–78, and made a profit the following year. International destinations expanded to include Kuala Lumpur, Athens, Muscat and Tripoli in 1979, followed by Yangon, Tokyo and Dhahran in 1980.

Airbus A310-300 landing

In 1983, three Douglas DC-10s joined the fleet and the airline started to phase out the Boeing 707s. The network expanded further to include Baghdad (1983), Paris (1984) and Bahrain (1986). On 4 August 1984, Biman faced its worst accident when a Fokker F27 flying in from Chittagong crashed near Dhaka, killing all 49 on board including Captain Kaniz Fatema Roksana, the airline's first female pilot. The long haul fleet was supplemented by the purchase of two new Airbus A310s in 1996 followed by the addition of two more in 2000, from Singapore Airlines and Air Jamaica, and another in 2003.