Biman flying low

By MF Karim, Uttara, Dhaka
10 March 2005, 18:00 PM
No figure is available on the total loss incurred, but on sketchy reports published it appears that the revenue was up by 17 percent and the total fuel cost incurred was up by 44.4 % in FY 2004. There is also talk of replacing the existing DC-10 aircraft with new Boeing B777 and Airbus A340 that will cost billions of dollars. Biman was also running at a loss two flights to New York a week.

In western countries corporate incompetence & inefficiency will always involve appointing independent firms to look into the financial affairs of the failed subject and recommend solutions and penalties. I suppose this isn't going to happen in this case. Pan Am & TWA simply collapsed with debt burden and loss of passengers but the US government did not give a damn about it. Other entrepreneurs turned up and US civil air space is not vacant. One of the main culprits was the rise of petrol price last year, but it was predictable because of the Iraq situation. The senior management did not even think of hedging the expected price rise. The German airlines had been hedging the oil price rise of millions of dollars to avoid extra cost. In Europe heads of some senior management would have rolled.

Biman's London flight should have been a profit earner but it was not, although other airlines like British Airways, Gulf Air have been running seven flights a week between Dhaka and London with excellent service both inside and outside cabins and making profit.

What is Biman doing?