Biman From Bangladesh, joined Sep 2006, 136 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 years 1 month 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1544 times:
Bangladesh government has decided in principle to float Biman Bangladesh Airlines, wholly state owned enterprise, into a public limited company. They have agreed to slash the number of employees by 50% from some 6,800 for only 13 aircrafts (a number of which are not even in service). It has some 14 trade unions and is regarded as a den of corruption.
"Biman, incorporated on January 4, 1972, is making losses of around Tk 4,000 to Tk 5,000 crore every year due to corruption and inefficiency." (Exchange rate: US$1 = BD Tk 60)
I notice the original poster used a term ".. to be privatised". But in the context of Bangladesh politics, reality, Biman should *only* be a public limited company, hence the title of the thread may be misleading. It was *never* public, where anyone else than the Gov't of Bangladesh had any shares of this "private limited company". I do support it being turned into a FOR profit, PUBLIC LIMITED company... However
It is very common to have the public share auctions of IPO companies often corrupted by third parties with vested interests, who rig the distribution/selection of the IPO to favor their own shareholder blocks. The share distribution process is rarely done in public and through independently verifiable process - and this issue has come up before with significant scandals involving Banks, Public sector manufacturing industries etc.
I know the tradition of Biman needs to live on, but it would be much better to complete deregulation of the civil aviation industry than keep on flogging this dead horse.
MaverickM11 From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 15814 posts, RR: 50 Reply 5, posted (6 years 1 month 14 hours ago) and read 1257 times:
Quoting Biman (Thread starter): It has some 14 trade unions and is regarded as a den of corruption.
Quoting Biman (Thread starter): Wouldn't it just be better to start up a new airline from scratch?
To me it seems more sensible to start over anew rather than follow the Biman-Alitalia model of airline success. If I were the Bangladeshi government I would be on my knees begging Tony Fernandez or Emirates or Singapore to start something--anything--decent.
Reality From United States of America, joined Apr 2007, 380 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1116 times:
An interesting fact I just read in an article about Skybus.....
• Most airlines employ 60 or 70 employees per airplane. By maximizing automation and outsourcing numerous tasks, Skybus needs only 30 to 35 employees per airplane (plus all Skybus employees have an equity stake in the company, giving them a vested interest in maximizing productivity).
.....so I'm not sure if bringing the number of employees at Biman down from 600 per plane to 300 per plane will help much.
Hamlet69 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 2669 posts, RR: 59 Reply 11, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 1001 times:
Quoting SKY1 (Reply 10): Are not Royal Bengal Airlines and Biman different carriers?
Yes they are. Biman is the state-owned national carrier. Royal Bengal is a venture being set up in the UK by expatriates to operate both international flights between the UK and Dhaka, as well as domestic Bangladesh routes. According to their site, they've recently acquired their first two aircraft (looks to be BAe's from the picture) to start domestic operations. However, it also appears they are still looking for considerable investment capital, so I was wondering if there was anyone closer to the situation that had a good read on where Royal Bengal stands? How is the government responding to this entrant?
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