Biman issue
This refers to an article on Boeing for Biman appearing in your paper.
Making suggestions about aircraft purchase should be based on fleet planning study and route study. In the past, too, presidents and governments pushed through the throat of Biman certain type of aircraft that was not only unsuitable for Biman and its routes but unacceptable for the airlines of the region. One such aircraft is ATP. And that was at the behest of one of our past presidents for financial and non financial reasons; we will not go into the financial reasons....too much to count. The non-financial reason is that Margaret Thatcher called him a Statesman-- which is also incorrect information.
Everyone sings in chorus about corruption in the airline. Corruption is never acceptable and should be punished, but the major corruption of buying unsuitable planes and expensive spare parts is main reason for the debacle of the airline. Debt accumulated in purchasing the aircraft has to be paid back. Now the president who pushed the purchase has gone away... and so have the ministers and middlemen. Nothing happens to them.
No corruption is acceptable but the corruption of reservation or checking counters is nothing compared to corruption of aircraft purchases. Even the foreign airlines' reservation and airport staff are into corruption here in Dhaka.
Again, corruption is never, never acceptable but this is only petty when compared with corruption and falling into vast debt due to unsuitable aircraft purchase. The debt has to be repaid and the debt servicing has to be included as a cost component thus pushing up the cost of operation. The cost of operation is never pushed up by paying salaries to a large number of employees of Biman. Salaries and wages paid to Biman employees (not crew) is very insignificant compare to other airlines.
So, routes are not economical. And routes can never be profitable if cost of operation is increased by factors beyond the control of Biman.
The first step in the direction of aircraft purchase should be planning. A number of destinations were closed down with great speed to show efficiency without realizing the difficulty of opening destinations. Closing a destination is easy but not necessarily starting flights to a destination. Biman should plan which destinations it will resume flights and not the oppositebuying plane and then deciding where to go. There is no justification in keeping white elephants. What's the hurry when the "efficient" Biman management has closed down stations like bus stops?
It is wonderful how the writer knows all the secret offers of Boeing. How does he know all this? Why only new planes and no leasing?
This is one article that does not mention about inefficiency of Biman management. How is it that the efficient management could not solve the Hajj flight problem?
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