Biman Bangladesh Airlines has suffered a huge loss instead of earning a big monetary gain by transporting cargo during the corona pandemic.
The national flag carrier that now has all the latest aircraft in its fleet expected to fly to more new destinations this year, but has again become controversial because of its unexpected move.
To earn a hundred crore taka profit from cargo transportation during the pandemic, the national flag carrier has badly damaged its latest Dreamliner which may cost taka thousand crore to repair.
According to sources close to Biman, during the pandemic stagnated situation while air communication across the globe was prohibited, Biman tried to overcome the loss operating cargo flights with its passenger flights.
Biman used four Boeing 777-300 ER, Boeing 737, and two leased aircraft for cargo transportation. But due to unplanned cargo handling more than 100 seats, 70 movie sets, interior decoration, floor, and other valuable items of those aircraft were damaged badly. Besides, chemicals and clay distorted the aircraft floor, wall, tiles while others were also damaged.
As the authority did not carry cargo following international standards, now the national flag carrier is likely to count thousand crore taka loss only to earn hundred crore taka.
In this regard, Biman Managing Director and CEO Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal said that those incidents occurred before his joining Biman. In the meantime, the aircraft have been made airworthy.
On the other hand, the newly procured Dash 8Q400 which was named ‘Akash Tori’ by the Prime Minister has been abandoned from February 2 this year. After the plane took to the skies, the pilot used more than 100 percent emergency power (wall to wall) on the power lever for no reason.This might have caused a deadly accident, but somehow Biman survived this time.
According to the Biman engineering section, in such cases, usually both the engines of the aircraft are burnt out or important parts of the engine become inactive. And in such a case the airline may have to spend more than Tk 60 crore for repairs.
The 74-seated Dash 8Q400 aircraft is totally new, and was added to Biman’s fleet in February last year. It was procured from Canada’s De Havilland Aerospace. On February 1, the aircraft operated on the domestic route.
The Biman Managing Director and CEO informed the media that they had mailed Canadian De Havilland Aerospace to estimate the damage. A committee of five members has been formed to investigate the issue.
Last but not the least, another controversy of Biman has been widely discussed is its pilot hiring. It has appointed some pilots who have failed in the recruitment examinations of foreign airlines.
Sources said that eight pilots had recently been appointed as captains of the Boeing 777 aircraft. Many of those who applied for the position of Captain in Bangladesh Biman had no experience of operating aircraft as captains on international routes. But for an invisible reason, Bangladesh Biman has hired inexperienced candidates, excluding candidates with experience of direct operation as captains.
State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali said, “The pilots have been hired due to shortage of pilots in Bangladesh Biman. If there is any corruption here, we will look into it”.