Biman Bangladesh has long been a troubled institution, which is incredibly unfortunate given that it is our national carrier. But it is incredibly clear that, as a company, Biman has absolutely ambitions to improve as it is seemingly content in offering incredibly poor customer experiences all the while wasting public funds.
Biman’s announcement of a five-day promotional “familiarization trip” to Narita for several top Biman and Civil Aviation Ministry officials and media personnel, which is set to cost Tk60 crore, is yet another notch in how it continues to misappropriate public funds.
Given the company’s repeated offenses in its mismanagement, both organizational and in terms of funds, it is high time for the government to act on the logic of turning Biman into a public-limited company and move to full privatization.
Last year, the Biman chief made a vow to not only make the airline profitable but had also targetted a $1 billion turnover -- this is the sort of overambition that has completely eroded any and all semblance of trust from Biman, which continues to pay lip service in its improvement over any visible actions.
Why does the government insist on keeping this obviously dead weight afloat? The public would be much better served if funding were to be used to improve personnel training and maintenance of Biman’s air fleet instead of pointless trips for company delegates and their families. Tax-payer money can be better spent on improving infrastructure, and passengers are well-served by better managed airlines providing services both internally and internationally.
What is even the point of Biman anymore?
It is now abundantly clear that making visible improvements to civil aviation and building first-rate airport hubs, which attract more competitive and better quality airlines, will be a better way to use government funds, rather than supporting Biman with endless subsidies.
It’s time for Biman to make a course correction to have its wings clipped.