The new board of directors of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd will soon decide on buying new aircraft and reorganising its routes to make the national flag carrier a profitable venture.
"We want to turn Biman self dependent and a company with excellent management," Mahbub Jamil, special assistant to chief adviser on civil aviation and tourism and head of Biman board of directors, told reporters yesterday.
He was speaking at a press conference at his industries ministry office in Motijheel on the development activities of Biman. It was his first press conference after the business leader was appointed special assistant to the chief adviser on January 21.
He said the previous Biman board failed to gather pace in their work as some of the board members who were also secretaries could not pay due attention to it as they were busy with their ministries concerned.
Mahbub Jamil vowed that no staff and officials of Biman will be spared if they are involved with corruption and irregularities.
New aircraft are a must to shape up the Biman fleet and to make it financially solvent, he said, adding, "After standing on a strong base, we will think about profit."
He said, "The Biman board of directors will decide soon on buying aircraft after getting report from the fleet committee."
On routes, he said, "We will not operate flights on prestigious but unprofitable routes like France."
Mahbub said there is no need for further layoffs in Biman since men-equipment ratio will become reasonable after the new planes are procured.
Mahbub hailed the bilateral air service agreement with India signed on February 13.
About punitive actions against Biman's corrupt officials who have already left, Mahbub said the anti-corruption taskforce will look into it.
The caretaker government on Sunday reconstituted the Biman board of directors appointing Mahbub Jamil as its head.