Biman PLC - some suggestions
Qamruddin , On e-mail
It is interesting to note that Biman is now a Private Limited Company (PLC). What difference does it make with seven government secretaries at the helm of Biman? It only means that all those secretaries would enjoy free or cheaper transportation for themselves and their families and recommend free tickets to their friends on Biman. Where is the time for these secretaries to manage everything in Bangladesh? A few things are important to run Biman profitably.1. Biman should be able to recruit mid-management and senior management level personnel at competitive salaries for running the airline. The govt secretaries should be omitted forthwith from the list of Board of Directors and free transportation should be limited to Biman staff who work full time in aviation. 2. Purchase of new aircrafts should be made as done in private limited companies, i.e., without international tenders, and other time consuming fruitless exercises. It is well known to any airline manager/director that the best planes to buy today are : A320 for domestic/regional routes, A330/340/350/380 for regional/international routes if one wishes to stick to only Airbus (which is not so wise). Alternatively, B737 for domestic/regional routes, and B747-8 Jumbos (& freighters), B777 and the B787 dream liners if one wishes Boeings only fleet. Biman can easily target a fleet of 60-70 aircrafts within the next five years through leasing and ordering NOW to own the aircrafts as deliveries will most likely commence after six/seven years based on the order backlog of latest aircrafts. 3. Biman being renovated from the scratch, should aim at new aircrafts and not old/junk/dilapidated aircrafts. The simple logic here is that all govt officials are given latest Pajeros/Prados/Safaris etc whereas for air travel these very people who drive new cars prefer the oldest model aircrafts for the public!! What a pity! Buying latest aircrafts will give Biman the new brand image, glory, and the ground for inviting private shareholders, besides being more fuel efficient (which is now 25-30% of the total operations costs). 4. Biman must implement best human resource practices so that the talented are welcome to join it and work honestly and diligently. Biman must also forsake forthwith all bureaucratic facilities to their outstation staff/managers where their amenities cost much higher than their salaries. 5. Last but not the least, Biman must enter the information age vigorously and implement e-booking/ticketing/tracing, etc., at world standard. New aircrafts with old methods will not produce any result. All internal and external procedures must interface with each other electronically. In addition, Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet airports need to be elevated to five times larger airports than their current sizes to be able to handle all sorts of aircrafts independently and should be open to all airlines to operate to Bangladesh through any gateway. Follow the open-sky policy. It is important to mention here that the CAAB (Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh) has been earning the highest airport departure tax in the world for the past 25-30 years and we do not know where the money has gone. We hope that Biman will soon be a renowned and efficient airline.
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