What brings doom to Biman Bangladesh Airlines?

Nasimul Haque "Lack of vision" and the very "poor governance" are two main factors, among many others, to worry about the future of Biman Bangladesh Airlines. So far, Biman has not seen anybody run the place with vision; no professional ever ran it as it should have been run. Favourites of all governments were placed here to see that their requirements were fulfilled first, then anything else. And what were the requirements? All they wanted was money as sidekicks (at the cost of the airline and the nation), acquisition of business to sabotage the airline and plundering its resources. No heed was ever paid to the prestige and pride of the national carrier. No attention was given to its income and hence nation's income. A time comes in one's life when one gets tired of the stalemate but here that is not to be seen. Money, money, money is the cry -- and forever. And the connivers plotting to make money seem to have acquired a PhD degree in formulating ways. They invent ways unheard of in the world of aviation business. Simple examples will clear the point; the Boeing 737 was purchased without the raft. As this raft is a part and parcel of the aircraft and a requirement, they were later purchased at an exhorbitant price. Were they really purchased or was a deal set in that fashion? How can an airline purchase airplanes without engine or wings? Good engines are sent for overhaul, no work is done but the bill is paid, sometimes over the quoted price. Here, what plays in the minds of the people in power? I do not have to be a professional to be in this project of airline business. If I can look after the interest of the people -- those who matter, then I can enjoy free transport, tickets, not to mention the remaining sidekicks etc. Like "pukur churi" -- or grand robbery -- I do not have to work on the engines or other heavy maintenance, but get paid and all is profit with the booty, to be shared with the relevant people. This very example was pointed out by one of the Managing Directors (MDs) of Biman but nothing happened -- that is why the demand for sharing the booty, to keep the greedy ones in loop. Like Gandhijee's very effective method of "Pen Down", this "sharing of booty" works very well in Third World countries. This works effectively in law enforcing agencies, courts, food department, ministries, so on and so forth. People have mastered this very well. It has been refined to only an envelope to be delivered, wonderful! No anti-corruption watchdog, no National Security Intelligence (NSI); it is totally a win-win situation for the crooks. Most of the airline offices are kept at places easily accessible by passengers and on ground floors. Biman had a town office in Iqbal Tower in Banani on the seventh floor for ticketing; from there it was shifted to a building in Gulshan on the fifth floor, where the lift seldom worked. Passengers found it difficult to locate the office and then had to climb the stairs to find that the computer or Internet is down because the generator does not supply adequate electricity to run the computers. Now again, they have moved to a remote place in Banani, which is difficult to locate. There is no generator and if the electricity goes, it becomes an hour of 'khushi' (good) time. The office has been moved without the proper compliments. The world is moving on a fast track but Biman or Bangladesh as a whole has not reached the platform yet to get on to the fast track. People now want quick and prompt services to keep pace with the world, but our laid-back attitude hampers people's jobs abroad for such callousness. Nobody seems to care about that because no individual is allowed to show dynamism without the concurrence of the Board of Directors. The Board has to be included in day-to-day affairs whether its members understand the subject or not. The rumour is that Biman is reopening its long lostcancelled flights to Manchester from November 02, 2011. This is the third time such a declaration has been made and is becoming increasingly akin to "the boy who cried wolf." In the aviation business, this is a very deterring factor and that must be avoided. People travel in accordance with plans and they cannot continue to allow for Biman's last minute changes and the lost time that will incur. Recently, three flights to London were cancelled due to technical reasons; the valued passengers were not informed of the rescheduling arrangement. They came to the airport to find that not only had their flights been cancelled, but also there was none to offer guidance, advice or compensation to them. Good preparation is all that is needed. Those who are involved with this preparation need to first understand the aviation business. Should their knowledge be insufficient, help can always be provided, by the experts employed by Biman. There is no shame asking for, or seeking, help. The implications of changed schedules need to be understood by the people involved in planning. Already the competition is stiff. Rival airlines are competing fiercely, ensuring the maintenance of schedules, high standards of service and lower fares. Biman authorities behave in a fashion that is incommensurable with the current market -- like a pigeon closes its eyes before the predator, convinced that if it can't see, then it can't be seen. When other airlines are ruthlessly reducing their fares, Biman wants to either maintain or increase the rates, thinking that only fools will travel with the airline and others will not notice. Everybody is looking for a credible schedule, good services and low fares. The members of the Board of Directors (BoD) of Biman seem to have isolated themselves from this simple fact. Instead, they operate with the supposed impunity of an absolute monarch, believing that all they need to do is to issue an order for it to be obeyed and instantly implemented. It was interesting to note one of the Directors of the Board (also a teacher in Business Administration), was reported to have said: "Manchester is further up from London so the fare needs to be enhanced, rather than being reduced." It is, of course, possible that he was trying to impress upon other members of the board who were present, demonstrating his geographical prowess, in telling them where Manchester is, or that he had no clue as to how business should be conducted in this consumer-driven economy. His business model certainly implies the latter: like any avaricious village shop-keeper, he believes that he can continue to inflate prices, being assured of the consumer's lack of choice. He is living in a fool's paradise; I can only hope that he chooses to retire voluntarily, in order to save face in the future. Such an action might also dissuade others from placing so much faith in demagogues, rather than applying thought and experience, in order to prevent any further losses of Biman's money. It has been reported that the BoD insists that its members should be directly involved in every decision-making; that they are to be referred to on all matters of policy. This of course begs the question: why do we have the paid Directors, the GMs and the DGMs. Are they merely for clerical jobs? The Manchester office was re-opened recently, but without the proper complement of staff to allow it to run properly. This seems to become Biman's standards of opening new offices. What is the planning directorate for? Is it meant for just sleeping on the matter? Aviation business cannot be run in this fashion. Is it desirable, for instance, that the vital decisions that have to be taken -- that are imperative to allow the people to continue to conduct their business properly -- are to involve delays because of the to-and-fro movements of files. The Biman's BoD, of course, is unaware of this fact. It seems, in a sense, that the only way it might be jolted into consciousness, be forced to take cognizance of the problems that people are constantly assailed with, is a strike. None of the members of the Board has any direct experience of aviation business or civil air transport. However expert the members of its Board might be in other spheres of life, simple common sense is not going to take Biman into the future. It requires hard efforts to successfully deal with the vagaries of the market that have been detailed above. In these increasingly difficult times, we require expert opinion and we have experts at Biman, already! These experts need to be given a free hand to display their aptitude and abilities in their respective fields. Biman's employees must be given the means to do their jobs. As a case in point: Biman signed with Boeing Co., for supply of new generation aircraft, the Biman authorities were also aware of the delivery time for the first two aircraft. But the relevant directorate was not allowed to do the needful to train the pilots in time to be able to fly the equipment. The Board or its Chairman played a foul-game with the pilots, disregarding the laid-down rules and procedures and delayed the process of training. Not only did he delay the training, but also he created a serious rift between the pilots; the squabble ended up in court, meaning more delays. Now, like a beggar, it is looking for pilots from other airlines at quite a high cost. Is this not recklessly counter-intuitive? What sense does it make, by depriving the Directorate of Flight operations of the means to train the pilots in time in a manner befitting his position? For any and every matter in Biman, one has to revert to the Head office and as the Directors are powerless, they refer all the matters to the BoD (this is also called "passing the buck"). What we have then in this convoluted and ineffective system, is a clear case of a set of people happily availing themselves of the privileges that their positions offer but refusing to accept the responsibilities that accompany them. Such a system is clearly faulty and these faults must be addressed. Captain Nasimul Haque is a former Biman pilot