Biman steps in to stop gold smuggles

Biman has initiated a move to put the lid on smuggling of gold through the national airliner by beefing up monitoring and security, its new boss said Wednesday.
"We are in talks with the Dubai authorities and trying to place additional security measures to deter people from smuggling gold," managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd Kyle Haywood told reporters at a press briefing in the city.
Many of the Biman's international flights that carried smuggled gold in recent years were from Dubai, known as the Gulf aviation hub.
"We are doing whatever we can," said Mr Haywood, referring to the step in response to rising tide of gold smuggling cases that has put Biman employees and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on spotlight.
Several employees of Biman were arrested for their alleged involvement in gold smuggling.
"It has been an embarrassment for us," said Mr Haywood, who has over 25 years of experience in the airline industry serving with different international airlines like British Airways, Etihad Airways, and low-cost Gulf carrier Air Arabia.
Biman's top executive also spoke about the national flag carrier's move against corruption.
"There should be no room for corruption. We need to do some work, ensure better management to check corruption," said Mr Haywood, who headed the South African low-cost carrier Fastjet before joining Biman three months ago.
Responding to a query, he said the Biman was working on stopping fake booking against tickets to ensure that the genuine clients would book for Biman tickets and pay its costs.
The Biman's top executive said Biman has been trying to modernise its fleets and improve services to remain competitive in the airline businesses.
"If we cannot continue modernisation, we shall be lagging behind in the region in next 12 to 18 months," he said.
Mr Haywood said Biman's revenue earning is on rise as a result of various modernisation drives like purchasing and leasing of new aircrafts and retiring old ones.
The average age of Biman's fleet, which was 24.7 years in 2010 reduced to 10.9 years by after 2014, he said.
It would reach 7.9 years by the end of 2015, he said, adding, "It would be similar to any modern airlines and something for which Biman could feel proud of."
Biman has plans to increase its frequency of flights and connect to all the key commercial and capital cities of the region, he added.
Regarding resumption of Biman's domestic flights Mr Haywood said, "All the flights are running on schedule."
"There were few small hiccups, which were highly unfortunate," he said.
The grounded aircraft has been operational since Tuesday afternoon, he added.
Biman's director (finance) AM Mosaddique Ahmed, director (administration) Rajpati Sarker, director (planning) Md Belayet Hossain and its senior officials were present among others at the press briefing.
    mazizur.rahman@outlook.com