Biman passes tougher year

Owes Tk 8,000 cr

Zarif Mahmud: Biman Bangladesh Airlines was in controversy and criticism throughout the year. The agency has come under fire for mismanagement in ground handling, question leaks in recruitment tests, application to Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) for surcharge waiver, duty of four personnel on VVIP flights without air security clearance.
Apart from this, incidents like collision between two aircrafts while entering the hangar at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, attempts to take them to the parking lot without opening the boarding bridge, engine failure using over power in the flight, cracks in the windshield, errors in the indicators during the flight have also occurred.
But the organization has not taken any steps to prevent these mismanagement or errors. As a result, the plane suffered an accident shortly after.
From January 2022 to this month (December), numerous such controversial activities have taken place in Biman. Now the participants are also discussing and criticizing how good the year 2023 will be for the organization. However, Biman’s expectations, they have learned from mistakes. Controversial activities will be reduced by increasing the quality of air services in the future.
Airline Questionnaire
Last October 21 at 3 pm Biman fixed the examination time for recruitment of 10 posts. However, an hour before the start of the exam, there were allegations of question leakage. Then the aviation authority was forced to suspend the test. Later, the job aspirants protested in front of the exam center in Uttara because of the cancellation of the exam. In this incident, the detective police arrested 10 members of the Sarfans gang by conducting raids in different areas of the capital that night. Five of them were fired by Biman.
Apart from this, at least 20 people, including the driver of the managing director and CEO of Biman, are absconding.
Detective Police Chief Mohammad Haroon Or Rashid held a press conference at Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) media center on November 3 regarding the question leak. He said that the recruitment exam question paper was photocopied by the Managing Director (MD) of Biman Bangladesh. In Zahid Hossain’s room. And from there the picture was taken and the question paper was leaked.
And from there the picture was taken and the question paper was leaked. The leak was due to a security lapse in the preparation of the question paper, for which senior officials can’t escape responsibility.
If you want to know the CEO of Biman. Zahid Hossain said that the intelligence agency is investigating the question leak incident. We are supporting them. Whoever is involved in the incident will come up in the investigation. Besides, the investigation of the plane is going smoothly.
And from there the picture was taken and the question paper was leaked. The leak was due to a security lapse in the preparation of the question paper, for which senior officials cannot escape responsibility.
If you want to know the CEO of Biman. Zahid Hossain said that the intelligence agency is investigating the question leak incident. We are supporting them. Whoever is involved in the incident will come up in the investigation. Besides, the investigation of the plane is going smoothly.
Whether such an accident is due to negligence or inefficiency, the airport itself has questioned the skills of the pilots, engineers and related personnel. Apart from this, questions have been raised about the security of Hazrat Shajjalal International Airport in Dhaka. However, the aviation authorities claim that they have taken appropriate action against those responsible immediately after each incident. Many have been fired.
On February 1, the pilot used over power in the Dash-8 Q400 aircraft flight. Two engines of the aircraft were damaged. In the same month, a Boeing 737 suffered a windshield crack while returning from Malaysia to Bangladesh.
On April 10, a Boeing 737 aircraft collided with another Boeing 777 aircraft while taking out the hangar (maintenance area) of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. At this time, both the aircraft were badly damaged. The weather forecaster on the front of the Boeing 777 aircraft broke. Boeing 737 aircraft tail horizontal stabilizer breaks.
Earlier on the night of June 4, a ground support equipment (GSE) of US-Bangla Airlines hit a Boeing 737 aircraft parked in the parking lot. After the impact, the flight of the aircraft was stopped.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed at the airport on June 16. The pilot-initiated pushback without closing the aircraft’s doors and disconnecting from the boarding bridge. It involves the tension of the boarding bridge with the aircraft door. Apart from this, on the night of July 3, two aircraft collided in the hangar. It damaged the right-side wing of the 787 aircraft and the left side wing of the 737 aircraft.
On July 18 at 8:35 PM, flight BG-396 experienced a mechanical fault while taking off from the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata, India. The plane was stuck on the runway for about four hours. At that time, 158 passengers on the plane got sick due to the air conditioning (AC) being switched off.
When asked about this, Biman’s General Manager (Public Relations) Tahera Khandkar said, Biman’s responsibility cannot be neglected. The few incidents that have occurred are accidents. In each incident, the aircraft investigated and took necessary measures.
However, an official of Biman, who did not want to be named, said that now there are 21 aircraft in Biman. There is a shortage of manpower and lack of staff training in operating these aircraft.
Criticism of Biman’s application for surcharge waiver
Civil Aviation Authority (CAAB) owes around Tk 8 thousand crore to Biman. Out of this, the outstanding surcharge is Tk 3,449 crores. Biman has sent a letter to the Ministry of Tourism on September 15 for this surcharge waiver. Later, the ministry recommended CAAB to consider this application. But CAABsaid they have no jurisdiction to waive the surcharge. It is the work of the Ministry of Finance. Such application of Biman has given rise to criticism in various quarters.
Biman’s letter said that after its establishment as a company, it was not possible for Biman to pay the previous dues to CAAB due to rising fuel prices, uneven competition, shortage of aircraft, removal of old aircraft from the fleet etc. Since 2016, Biman has been regularly paying all kinds of landing, parking, route navigation bills of CAAB.
When asked, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali said that Biman is currently in profit compared to previous years. However, I will talk to the Ministry of Finance regarding the waiver of surcharge for the previous dues.