Biman to become a smart airline: CEO

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has formulated a plan to transform the carrier into a "smart airline" in line with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's vision of "smart Bangladesh", Managing Director and CEO of Biman Shafiul Azim said today.

"We have made a pledge to make Biman a 'smart airline' in the forthcoming era of 'smart Bangladesh'," he told reporters at a briefing on the eve of the 51st anniversary of the national flag carrier at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The Biman chief said they have taken up a plan to make Biman one of the top 10 Asian airliners and gradually take it to the top three .

Azim said he had already made a work plan, including expansion of routes using its new-generation fleet, and building skilled human resources at all levels of the airline's administration and operational fronts, including pilots.

The main focus of the programme is to ensure good governance, accountability, and transparency from the topmost to the lowest level, he said.

He said that Biman would operate this year's Hajj flights using its own aircrafts.

Azim said currently Biman Bangladesh Airlines successfully conducts "C-check" and saves $2 million per check, which is an extensive examination of individual systems and components for serviceability and functioning of an aircraft.

Recently, Biman saved a total of Tk 20 crore as it successfully conducted C-checks on a total of five Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircrafts at Biman's hangar in the Dhaka airport.

Besides, Azim said Biman would introduce online feedback services for the passengers and take all necessary measures to maintain flight schedule.

He said efforts have been taken to make the airline more passenger-friendly and to facilitate more digital services through websites for ticketing.

"We are planning to increase capacity of our 24-hour call centres to get complaints of the passengers promptly," he added.

Azim said Biman made a profit of Tk 436 crore in the 2021-22 fiscal year while it achieved 77 percent load capacity, surpassing the target of 74 percent, by carrying 2.8 million passengers last year.

Biman's current fleet contains 21 aircraft, including 18 of their own, and operates on 20 international routes.