Biman's new aircraft
I was reading a piece "Boeing! Boeing" in The Daily Star on 16 Mar 08 which was written by Mr. M. Firoze--a steel industry consultant. I was surprised. Who told him that the Bangladesh government is spending $1.265 billion of taxpayers' money on buying eight luxury aircraft? This is not true. Biman itself will bear the costs taking loan from international financing organisations like EXIM Bank --a US banking institution. And a small portion of the total amount will be paid from Biman's own funds. This was in reports published in various newspapers. Even Mr Mahbub Jamil, the chairman of Biman's board of directors, said in a news conference after signing the agreement with Boeing in Dhaka that Biman would not take anything from the government to buy the aircraft.
Another point he mentioned/suggested is closing down the losing airlines. But I want to ask him WHY? I think he suffers from deficiency of information in this regard. Cutting down the head if there is a headache is not the solution. First, we should look into why Biman was not able to make profit.
Now everybody knows that it was the past governments and the ministers who were solely liable for the corruption in Biman, not Biman itself.
This clearly indicates that every past government was responsible for tarnishing the image of the National Carrier.
So it will be a gross injustice to punish someone for a crime which he did not commit!
Another important thing is that in the aviation business Asia is the most potential market now. Bangladesh has a great potential for aviation business. Almost every year a good number of new airlines are coming to start their operations in Bangladesh. And day by day every airline is increasing their flight frequency.
If the foreign airlines can do business here and make profit, why can't we?
We should think positively and be optimistic.
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