Current and former captains of Biman Bangladesh Airlines said that professionalism, transparent management and apolitical intent to run the organization as a commercial entity can turn the national flag carrier into a profitable venture like the old days.
Similar to other international carriers such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, Turkish Airways, Oman Air, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines, Biman should be run by professionals with adequate experience in running airlines, a former Biman captain told Dhaka Tribune.
He also said that running a carrier is not a job for bureaucrats, but rather for experienced aviation industry personnel.
Founded by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Biman Bangladesh Airlines started its journey on January 4, 1972.
On March 4 the same year, three days before the start of domestic operation, the first flight of Biman's international operation landed in Dhaka from London with 179 passengers on board.
Its journey began with a DC-3 aircraft - an air force plane gifted to the new airline by the government, with which Biman was finally airborne on March 7, 1972 with flights to Chittagong and Sylhet, and on March 9 to Jessore.
In 2013 Biman hired a Brit, Kevin John Steele as the CEO and managing director to help turn things around.
That did not go well. Steele resigned from Biman Bangladesh Airlines giving up his fight to turn the company around, after a year at the helm.
Meanwhile, the national carrier incurred a loss of Tk224.16 crore in FY2010-11, Tk594.21 crore in FY2011-12, Tk285.63 crore in FY2012-13, and Tk285.61 crore in FY2013-14.
It started earning profit with Tk324.13 crore in FY2014-15. It last earned a profit of Tk217.81 crore in FY2018-19.
But the airline incurred Tk2,761 crore revenue loss during the January-August period of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lack of proper management.
According to sources, Biman cancelled 4,103 flights during March-August 2020 due to a pandemic that caused the national airline an unaudited loss of Tk597 crore.
Due to setbacks incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, Biman currently operates flights to seven domestic and 19 international destinations. These include three Saarc destinations, five in Southeast Asia, nine in the Middle East, and two in Europe.
In FY 2019-20 Biman carried a total of 20.45 lakh passengers and 22,651 tons cargo.
Steps have also been taken to optimize Biman’s revenue earnings and reduce sales cost through introducing revenue management and revenue integrity systems.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Biman conducted rotation flights for the Bangladesh Army, Air Force and Bangladesh Police for UN peacekeeping missions.
Biman was incorporated as a public limited company in 2007.