Bangladesh has a population of 156 million and Ethiopia 90 million. Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $527bn, making ours the 34th largest economy in the world. Ethiopia’s GDP of $132bn ranks at 70th. Bangladesh's per capita income at PPP is $3,581 annually, while Ethiopia’s is less than half, at $1,455.
Bangladesh is a medium ranking country as far as human development is concerned, with an HDI of 0.558, Ethiopia ranks even lower, with an HDI of 0.435. Even in terms of the Gini coefficient, which measures the extent to which wealth is equitably distributed in a country, Bangladesh ranks marginally ahead of Ethiopia.
Bangladeshi legal migrant workers (most presumably traveling by air) remit $14bn annually, placing it among the 10 largest foreign remittance-earning countries in the world. Ethiopian migrant workers remit $450m. Bangladesh’s export earnings (which presumably includes goods shipped by air) is $31bn, putting it at 61st globally; Ethiopia earns a tenth of it, $3.2bn to be precise.
There are significant, and increasingly successful, Bangladeshi immigrant communities in Europe, North America, and Australasia, who travel regularly to Bangladesh. Indeed, Bangla is the second most widely spoken language in London. The Ethiopian diaspora, by contrast, is much more marginalised.
By all indices, Bangladesh is a much more developed, economically diverse, and globally integrated country compared to Ethiopia.
Now consider this: Skytrax, the global airline review and ranking website, has ranked Biman Bangladesh Airlines among the second worst airlines in the world. The only airline ranked worse than Biman is Air Koryo, the North Korean flag carrier. Ethiopian Airlines, on the other hand, has a ranking of 3 stars.
Other airlines ranked with Biman include Syrian Air. With Dhaka ranking ahead of just Damascus in terms of livability, it seems Bangladesh and Syria are becoming fraternal twins. A portent, perhaps?
What is more significant is the fleet size and range of operations of Biman compared with Ethiopian Airlines. Biman has 12 airplanes, of which eight are wide-bodied, though none of them are cargo, and serves 21 destinations. Ethiopian Airlines has 76, of which 38 are wide-bodied and 10 carry cargo, and serves 101 destinations. Ethiopian Airlines’ fleet includes 13 787s, which are at the cutting edge of aviation technology, and a further six are on order.
The two airlines have one thing in common though: Both airlines are state-owned.
I should mention that I am neither an economist nor an aviation expert. I do not profess to have any explanations nor do I have any remedies to suggest. I can only look at the statistics gleaned from the Internet. I can only ponder whether this is just further evidence of Bangladesh, though not poor, being among the most poorly governed countries in the world.
