In spite of massive preparations undergoing for long, Biman Bangladesh Airlines' much-awaited maiden commercial flight on the Dhaka-Toronto route will run today with around 138 seats empty.

So far 160 tickets for the flight to Toronto has been sold online while 171 for the return flight to Dhaka, Managing Director and CEO Zahid Hossain told The Daily Star.

The flights will be run using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft which has 298 seats.

Sources in Biman said if the number of passengers did not increase, the flight would not be commercially viable.

Initially the Biman authorities claimed it would be a direct flight but later announced that there would be a stopover in Istanbul, Turkey for 1 hour for refuelling.

During the stopover, passengers will not be allowed to disembark. 

However, the flight will return directly to Dhaka from Toronto, Biman said in a press release yesterday.

Two weekly flights will be operated on the route.

The return fare in economy class has been fixed at Tk 1.80 lakh, said sources at the Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

The maiden flight of BG-305 will leave Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 3:30am on July 27.

This will recur every Sunday and Wednesday.

The flight will land in Istanbul around 9:00am local time and then fly again to reach Toronto around 2:00pm local time.  The return flight will also begin every Sunday and Wednesday at 9:00pm and 7:30pm respectively local time. It will be non-stop for 16 hours before making the landing in Dhaka.