Introduction
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit. Generally, airline companies are recognized with an air operating certificate or license issued by a governmental aviation body.
GMG Airlines is the largest private airline of Bangladesh operating domestic, regional, and international services, upholding the image of Bangladesh to the world. The history, fleet, destination, services, office address, contact/telephone no for flight information of GMG Airlines of Bangladesh are included here.
History of GMG airlines
GMG Airline was established in 1997 and started operations on 6 April 1998. It is owned by the industrial conglomerate GMG Group and Beximco. It began with domestic operations and launched international services on 8 September 2004, with a service from Chittagong to Kolkata. It was the first private Bangladeshi airline to launch international services.
GMG began regular flights to Bangkok, Delhi, and Kathmandu on 20 October 2006. It started services to Kuala Lumpur on 24 January 2007. The airline started its operation to the Middle East with daily flights to Dubai on 1 February 2008. And in July 2010 they start Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) 4 flights per week and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) 6 Flights per week
Destinations of GMG airlines
GMG Airlines currently operates services to the following destinations
Bangladesh
Chittagong – Shah Amanat International Airport
Dhaka – Shahjalal International Airport Hub
India
Kolkata – Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah – King Abdulaziz International Airport
Riyadh – King Khalid International Airport
United Arab Emirates
Dubai – Dubai International Airport
GMG Airlines Fleet Information
GMG Airlines, the largest private commercial carrier in Bangladesh has been successfully operating for the last twelve years since 1998. At GMG, we are turning over a new leaf to deliver international service. Serving 8 international destinations along with all the domestic routes available, it is the largest private airline of Bangladesh. In our quest to be a major player in the global market, we are going through an ambitious expansion scheme by establishing new flights in the Middle East, Far East & Europe.
GMG Airlines currently operates a fleet of two Boeing 767, MD 80 (82, 83) and Bombardier Dash 8 aircrafts. To accommodate the increasing demand of air transportation in Bangladesh, GMG is expanding its fleet & routes rapidly.
GMG Airlines Services in the Air
At GMG Airlines we believe in simplicity, and giving our passengers outstanding value for money. All GMG Airways passengers are offered a lip-smacking full hot meal. Safety and comfort for passengers is a top priority. They always use the highest safety precautions on every flight, and they make sure passengers always have blankets and pillows for extra comfort.
Information ministry
The most influential part of the executive of the Bangladesh government is the ministries. A ministry is headed by minister or minister of state shall be responsible for conducting the business of his Ministry/Division in the Parliament unless otherwise directed by the Prime Minister. The Secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or division, assisted by Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Senior Assistant Secretary and Assistant Secretary. Few ministries are consisted of more than one division.
Collected information and experienced about information ministry
We were hopeful that we will get lots of information on GMG airlines from information ministry. But we did get help from them as much as needed. From our experienced we can say that their not helpful for providing information. They show that they are so busy .That is why they did not help us. We went to information ministry two times but they did provide us information only for business. I think they were not busy, they were idle. However they provided us some information on GMG airlines.
This are given below-
Contribution on Emergency services
GMG Airlines, the country’s largest private carrier, has carried 10588 Hajj pilgrims this year. The number of Hajj pilgrims it carried last year was 3000.
On time Hajj flight performance with no delays and zero cancellations by the airlines was 97 per cent– a remarkable air travelling service provided by any other private carrier in Bangladesh. Not only it managed to have its Hajj flights on real time but it applied a new practice of early departure before the scheduled time. Besides many Hospitals are use GMG to carry their peasant form one country to another country.
At the beginning they did not play success although it was the first private airlines
They answer us at that time overall economic condition was bad. In that time many company were not doing well not only GMG airlines. Some other reasons also had, like their price was about similar of Biman Bangladesh airlines that is why people were not take their service. People knew the Biman but they did not know the GMG airlines. Many people did not took their services only cause of fear they said that new airlines may crash. Although as a private company their airplane was not much decorated that why people was not attract to take their service.
Opinion about Supplementary services
A seriate officer said us his personal experiences about GMG airlines. He said GMG airlines internal decoration are not highly furnished and their air hostages services and also their supplementary services are not sufficient for passengers compare to their competitors like emirates air Arabia.
Is it growing their market share?
They said yes GMG airlines are growing their market share. With this expansion, GMG Airlines has grown to hold 12% of international capacity to/from Bangladesh, up from 9% a year ago.
Bangladesh international capacity (seats per week as % of total) breakdown: Week commencing 04-Jul-2010
From this above chart we see that week commencing in 2010, Biman Bangladesh airlines was 27% , GMG airlines 9%, Emirates airlines 9% , Qatar airway 5%, Jet airways 5% , and others airlines were 45%.
Bangladesh international capacity (seats per week as % of total) breakdown: Week commencing 04-Jul-20111
From this chart we see that week commencing in 2011 Biman Bangladesh airlines was 26% ,GMG airlines 12% which has increase from 9% in 2010, Emirates airlines 8% , Qatar airway 5%, Jet airways 4%. And 45% were commencing others airlines.
Bangladesh capacity (seats per week, to/from/within) by carrier (04-Jul-2011 to 10-Jul-2011)
Contribution of GMG airlines to the GDP in Bangladesh
GMG airlines contribution of GDP in Bangladesh in this year 2009 was .298% in 2010 it was 0.331% which is increasing from the past year.
Shares issue of GMG airlines
The company has informed that the Board of Directors of the company in its meeting held on 17.06.09 at 5:30 PM resolved to make investment in GMG Airlines Limited in the form of 3,00,00,000 (Three crore) Ordinary Shares of Tk. 10 each amounting to Tk. 30,00,00,000 (Taka Thirty crore), subject to SEC’s Consent to GMG Airlines Limited to issue such shares.
In response to a DSE query regarding rumour to take stake in GMG Airlines Limited by the company, the Company has informed that "We, as a part of our investment strategy, are considering various investment opportunities including GMG Airlines Limited. Once our investment is finalized, it will be made known to all concerned".
Competitors of GMG airlines
Local competitors of GMG airlines are
- Biman Bangladesh Airlines
- GMG Airlines
- United Airways
- Regent Airways
- Bismillah Airlines
- Royal Bengal Airline
- Best Air
- Air Sylhet
International competitors of GMG airlines
- Saudi Arabian Airlines –SU
- Air India – IR
- Singapore Airlines SQ
- Nippon Airways
- Gulf Air – GF
- Air Arabia
- Qatar airlines
- Emirates airlines
Credit Card Payment
GMG Airlines accepts payment for tickets through the use of Credit Cards. The following will be required to purchase tickets from any GMG Airlines Sales Counters:
- If credit card holder is the passenger:
The card holder must visit any GMG Airlines offices along with the original Credit Card and valid PHOTO Identity card to verify the payment.
- If the Credit card holder is not the passenger:
A copy of the credit card, self-attested by the credit card holder should be produced and it is also required to produce a letter, Signed by the credit card holder, authorizing the use of the credit card for the purchase of the ticket. The letter should mention the name(s) of the passenger, date and Destination. The following will be required to produce during Check In counters at the airport, if passenger purchase GMG Airlines ticket using credit card (in case of online & sales counter purchase):
- If credit card holder is the passenger or one of the passengers:
If the Credit card holder is the passenger or one of the passengers, then the credit card will have to be produced at the time of Check In for security issues and verification.
ii. If the credit card holder is not the passenger:
A copy of the credit card, self-attested by the credit card holder should be produced and it is also required to produce a letter, Signed by the credit card holder, authorizing the use of the credit card. The letter should mention the name(s) of the passenger, date and Destination. The original letter, along with the self-attested copy of the credit card and passport copy/Photo ID will have to be submitted at Check In counters. GMG Airlines reserves the rights to cancel your booking and deny you to board the flight if you do not comply with the above credit card verification process
GMG Re scheduling /re validation procedure
a) Ticketing Office: A Passenger is required to visit our nearest Ticketing office for the purpose of any Rescheduling/Re Validation of E-tickets. The Passenger will be rebooked on a preferred GMG flight and E-ticket will be revalidated accordingly taking in to consideration the “Fare Rules” for Rescheduling/Re Validation and collecting additional charges if required.
b) Online: In the event of Re Scheduling/Revalidating the existing booked flights to different dates/flights please use the Refund Template to get refund of the existing E-ticket .The refund of E-ticket will be based on the “Fare Rules”. Once you have submitted E-ticket for refund, please proceed to create a new reservation as per requirement.
Refund Policy of GMG airlines
You may request a refund of all Electronic Tickets on a single itinerary, provided that payment was made at local GMG Office or authorised sales agents at the time of booking. Depending on fare rules, refunds may be permitted for unused or partly used tickets. To submit your refund request, please contact to your local GMG Office or call our Call Center number (+880 9609 359 464) or mail at customerservice@gmgairlines.com and provide necessary information viz, ticket no. (Example:0092356412321, PNR, route, contact number, passport number and any identification if given while ticket was issued). If your Electronic Tickets are purchased from www.gmgairlines.com , then you may request a refund of all Electronic Tickets on a single itinerary, provided that payment was made online at www.gmgairlines.com at the time of booking. Depending on fare rules, refunds may be permitted for unused or partly used tickets. For any further query please call our customer service (+880 9609 359 464). The refund will be processed by GMG and charged back to the credit card that was used for online payment.
Conclusion
In conclusion we would like to say that as first private airlines (GMG) did not get success as much they needed. However at the first time their performance was not so good but their performances today are increasing toward successful airlines company in Bangladesh. From the above analysis we see that GMG airlines have grown to hold 12% of international capacity to/from Bangladesh, up from 9% a year ago. From this statistic we can say that they are improving their performance. Bangladesh capacity (seats per week, to/from/within) by carrier (04-Jul-2011 to 10-Jul-2011) GMG airlines are in second position. Biman Bangladesh airlines capacity per weak 41401 followed by GMG airlines capacity per week 21784, followed by united air ways capacity per week 13216 then emirate airlines capacity per week 11896. A seriate officer said us their internal decoration of airlines are not highly furnished and their air hostess services and also their supplementary services are not sufficient for passengers. Although GMG airlines are improving then we thinks it will be more improving if they improved their decoration of airlines and the supplementary services.
Finally, we would like to say that GMG airlines have little lacking of their services. Without these little lacking overall performances of their services are well. We expect GMG will remove these lacking and will improve their services in near future
