It is obvious that Biman is now under tremendous financial pressure which has led to its recent decision to cancel loss-making domestic flights to Barisal. Newspaper reports suggest that Biman will reduce the number of flights on some other domestic routes as well. It is also understood that Biman has decided to discontinue its flights on some international routes that include Paris and Frankfurt, but will continue to run flights to New York although this route incurs huge losses to the state-run airline. The Prime Minister Khaleda Zia apparently wants that the flights be continued to New York. This is another example of how the country is run according to the whims and caprices of the powerful people. These people seem to consider the state as their private property, and manage that property the way that suits their personal likes and dislikes, without consideration of the welfare of the people in general.

Biman has long been incurring huge financial losses on many air routes, both domestic and international. There have not been any serious efforts on the part of the government to make it run purely on commercial basis. It has always been treated just as a national flag carrier, no matter whether it earns profits or makes continuous losses. False prestige is more important than commercial viability, so to speak.

Now the Prime Minister has set another bad example of interfering with the affairs of the national airline by encouraging Biman to continue to incur losses on an international route (New York) which perhaps never yielded profits. Who will pay for the losses incurred due to her unjustified intervention -- the Prime Minister herself, out of her own pocket, or the state (and for that matter the public)? Is the running of an airline just a matter of national prestige and the Prime Minister's dreamy whim, or a matter of practical commerce and trade? Any commercial entity, be it privately owned or state owned, usually should carry out its business on commercial principles and considerations.

Theoretically speaking, Biman should have been allowed to go out of business long ago to prevent the colossal financial losses it has amassed over the years due to inefficiency, corruption, and ill-conceived opening of many domestic and international routes. It should have been privatised many years ago on considerations of sustainable financial management and public welfare on the part of the state.

According to the State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin, Biman needs another dose of life-saving drug in the form of Tk 100 crore to pay for the overdue fuel bills, otherwise the airline cannot be properly managed! This implies that the only way to properly manage an airline is the continued injection of public money into a loss-making white elephant like Biman. The minister and the top management of Biman should better resign for colossal failure to improve the financial performance of the national flag carrier. We know that it is not the political or social culture in Bangladesh to voluntarily quit a position. Nobody takes responsibility for consequences of his or her actions in relation to public administration. Most people try to find scapegoats for any adverse and unpalatable consequences of their actions and behaviour. There is hardly any accountability on the part of the ministers and the top bureaucrats, even if something goes seriously wrong that may cause significant harm to the financial management or other aspects of governance of public affairs.

In the past, Biman opened many domestic and international routes without doing any cost-benefit analysis. There was sort of a wish-list of some powerful masters and Biman had to satisfy those masters by engaging in unprofitable business activities. The question of commercial viability did not appear to have played any role in making decisions on opening routes. No SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and treats) analysis was ever done to see if any particular route will be profitable or unprofitable. Comprehensive market analysis, including the demand for service, competitors' strengths and size of the market, is required to be conducted, especially in a business sector that faces fierce and often cut-throat competition. Due to immense competitive pressure and constant losses, many airlines in the world have simply gone bankrupt disappeared.

It should not be the business of the government to continue to provide financial support to a perennial loss-making publicly owned commercial enterprise. Let Biman die a natural death if it cannot run on profits. How long will the tax payers of the country continue to support a terminally ill patient?

Abdul Quader is a freelance contributor.