A syndicate of Biman officials is reportedly ignoring decisions taken by the national flag carrier’s top management in order to continue selling tickets through travel agencies.
The issue came to light following Biman’s maiden Dhaka-Guangzhou flight on August 18. As many as 177 tickets for the flight were sold through the travel agency Takeoff Travels, even though the Biman management had issued notices specifying that tickets for the flight would only be sold from official Biman counters.
No fewer than 50 of the tickets were sold to Takeoff Travels the day before ticket sales opened on August 10, according to documents verified by high-level government officials.
The vast majority of the passengers were Chinese nationals, and only a handful were from Bangladesh.
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When contacted in August, Biman CEO and Managing Director Zahid Hossain confirmed to Dhaka Tribune that the tickets for the first flight were not supposed to be sold through travel agencies.
"No travel agency was allowed to sell tickets for the first flight [from Dhaka to Guangzhou]," he said, adding that the Biman marketing department might know more.
File photo of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka TribuneBiman Marketing and Sales Directorate General Manager Mohammad Salahuddin admitted to allowing the tickets to be sold through a travel agency but said he did not think it was a problem.
“This is the way it has always been done. Not only Takeoff Travels, but some other agencies also sold Biman tickets after paying us cash in hand. Our Motijheel district office is responsible for handling such agreements,” he added.
“The name of the agency is not written on the ticket, so we don’t consider which agency sells our tickets. Our job is to sell tickets and earn money,” the Marketing GM further said.
However, sources at Valencia Air Travels & Tours Ltd claim they also tried to purchase tickets for the first flight on August 14, but their request was denied.
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An official of the travel agency alleged they were not allowed to buy tickets as they could not pay sufficient commission to the Biman Marketing GM.
State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali said even if the tickets were allowed to be sold through travel agencies, all tickets for a flight should never be sold by a single travel agency.
File photo shows a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane at the Dhaka airport Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka TribuneVowing to look into the matter, he said: "There was no decision on allowing a single agency to sell Biman tickets. No one will be spared, including the marketing GM."
After the matter was brought to the attention of the authorities, the second Dhaka-Guangzhou flight took off from Dhaka on September 15. All tickets for the flight were sold from Biman counters.
On September 12, Biman had issued a letter to all its officials directing them to sell tickets only from official counters and centres.
However, Biman has already used a China-based GSA agent to sell 60 tickets for the third Dhaka-Guangzhou flight. It is set to take off on October 13.
Syndicate of seven officials
According to documents from Biman and travel agencies, ticket sales to travel agencies are primarily handled by Biman Marketing and Sales Directorate GM Mohammad Salahuddin, Manager E-commerce Abu Zafor Mohammed Shamsul Alam, Revenue Management Manager AKM Shohidul Hasan, GM (Sales) Dilip Kumar Chowdhury, GM (Revenue) Mohammed Mizanur Rashid and Deputy General Manager (Pricing and RMS) Mohammad Ali Osman Noor and Manager Commercial Anayet Hossain.
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Emails exchanged between the officials show GM Salahuddin asking the others to ensure that they coordinated between themselves on the sales. The emails were not sent to the Biman MD.
“M/S Takeoff Travels deposited full money for 23 pax for BG366/18AUH DACCAN IN H class. You are requested to make a group or pnr and then insert names along with docs as per their list,” said one email from Manager (E-commerce) Abu Jafar Md Shamsul Alam to “spodoso; Manager Sales Promotion, Biman; Officer-in-Charge, DSO Biman”
Requests from Takeoff Travels for tickets were also made through email to the aforementioned officials.
When Ataharul Islam, manager of Takeoff Travels, requested payment of special group fare for 20 passengers on August 14, GM Salahuddin approved a reduction of Tk 20,000 to Tk 1,76,280 per ticket.
File Photo: Biman Bangladesh Airlines CourtesyHowever, GM (Revenue) Mohammad Mizanur Rasheed later pressured the Biman corporate cash unit to claim the full amount from Takeoff Travels.
When this reporter contacted Takeoff Travels in the guise of a passenger on August 17, the day before the first flight, Ataharul Islam told Dhaka Tribune the travel agency had secured permission to sell the tickets.
TIB urges govt to bring perpetrators to justice
Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), said Biman’s ticketing business appears to have been seized by some unscrupulous syndicates who are systemically and ruthlessly violating Biman’s own rules.
He said: “The scam is clearly an inside job in which some Biman staff are abusing their official positions to earn illicit income. They are taking advantage of a lack of proper monitoring and internal control to collude and manipulate an apparently faulty system.”
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He further said Biman’s top management and the Board of Directors, as well as their oversight authorities, cannot avoid responsibility for such blatant and systematic corruption in the state-owned entity.
The allegations, which appear to be corroborated by documentary evidence, should be duly and robustly investigated to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators within and beyond Biman, he added.
