Vested quarters out to foil Biman's facelift bid
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Mashiur Rahaman
The state-run Biman's over-booked Dhaka-London flights take-off with a large number of empty seats, as its marketing and sales department failed to check corruption emerging out of rising passenger demand, Biman official said.
Official data of the state airlines from March 16 to April 6 shows a total of 40 per cent business class seats and 20 per cent economy class seats went empty. But booking data confirmed all these 12 Boeing 777-200ER aircraft flights during the period were over-booked.
Insiders blamed the sales and marketing department and complicated ticket booking and confirmation processes for the loss.
They also hinted at the involvement of corrupt elements within the national flag carrier and certain travel agents for this mismanagement that was not only costing heavy financial loss but also damaging a promising market for Biman, they added.
"Five per cent passenger drop in a fully booked flight is reasonable but what we see in the case of Biman is unacceptable and appears to be deliberate," a Biman official said requesting anonymity.
Biman charges Tk 59,708 and Tk 38,888 per business and economy class seats respectively for one-way travel to London. The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft contains 30 business class and 293 economy class seats.
This huge loss could have been easily avoided, if the sales and marketing department took initiatives to confirm each passenger personally instead of waiting for them to appear in person for confirmation, officials explained.
Replacing age-old DC-10-30 aircraft, Biman started the high-demand Dhaka-London-Dhaka flights with newly leased Boeing 777-200ER and Airbus-310 aircraft. The five direct flights per week with advanced aircraft drew great passenger attention, maintained over 95 per cent cabin factor (total passenger against total capacity) for a month.
But the scenario started to change from mid-March, while over-booked Biman's flights started to witness rising number of 'no-show passengers' from its booking list, another Biman official said.
"We have noticed this loophole and have already initiated action against those who are responsible for this mess," Biman chairman Air Marshal (Retd) Jamal Uddin Ahmed told the FE.
He said Biman's initial investigation has unveiled an evil plot hatched by one of its top officials in the sales and marketing department in connivance with a group of travel agents based in Sylhet.
"They were found involved in misguiding passengers in the waiting list and issuing ticket confirmation after charging extra money from desperate passengers," he added.
The officer has been suspended immediately and those travel agents have been placed on the blacklist, he confirmed assuring that further in-depth investigation is being carried out.
The state-run Biman's over-booked Dhaka-London flights take-off with a large number of empty seats, as its marketing and sales department failed to check corruption emerging out of rising passenger demand, Biman official said.
Official data of the state airlines from March 16 to April 6 shows a total of 40 per cent business class seats and 20 per cent economy class seats went empty. But booking data confirmed all these 12 Boeing 777-200ER aircraft flights during the period were over-booked.
Insiders blamed the sales and marketing department and complicated ticket booking and confirmation processes for the loss.
They also hinted at the involvement of corrupt elements within the national flag carrier and certain travel agents for this mismanagement that was not only costing heavy financial loss but also damaging a promising market for Biman, they added.
"Five per cent passenger drop in a fully booked flight is reasonable but what we see in the case of Biman is unacceptable and appears to be deliberate," a Biman official said requesting anonymity.
Biman charges Tk 59,708 and Tk 38,888 per business and economy class seats respectively for one-way travel to London. The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft contains 30 business class and 293 economy class seats.
This huge loss could have been easily avoided, if the sales and marketing department took initiatives to confirm each passenger personally instead of waiting for them to appear in person for confirmation, officials explained.
Replacing age-old DC-10-30 aircraft, Biman started the high-demand Dhaka-London-Dhaka flights with newly leased Boeing 777-200ER and Airbus-310 aircraft. The five direct flights per week with advanced aircraft drew great passenger attention, maintained over 95 per cent cabin factor (total passenger against total capacity) for a month.
But the scenario started to change from mid-March, while over-booked Biman's flights started to witness rising number of 'no-show passengers' from its booking list, another Biman official said.
"We have noticed this loophole and have already initiated action against those who are responsible for this mess," Biman chairman Air Marshal (Retd) Jamal Uddin Ahmed told the FE.
He said Biman's initial investigation has unveiled an evil plot hatched by one of its top officials in the sales and marketing department in connivance with a group of travel agents based in Sylhet.
"They were found involved in misguiding passengers in the waiting list and issuing ticket confirmation after charging extra money from desperate passengers," he added.
The officer has been suspended immediately and those travel agents have been placed on the blacklist, he confirmed assuring that further in-depth investigation is being carried out.