The chairman of Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG, Dhaka) does not see any sense in breaking up the airline, as recently suggested by the Bangladeshi government's Economic Strategy Realignment Taskforce.
“I believe that there’s no logic behind it," the bdnews24 news outlet reported Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury as saying at a hangar event in Dhaka on February 6. "First of all, Biman has no problem."
Earlier this month, the taskforce's Wahiduddin Mahmud labelled the state-owned carrier as "worthless" and "deplorable," among other things. The taskforce, put in place to promote change at state-owned entities, suggested breaking the airline into two companies, giving one to a "world-class" foreign operator and leaving the rest in state hands, seeing which performs best, and make long-term reform decisions based on that.
Pointing out Biman Bangladesh's improved operations, Chowdhury said, for example, that C-checks are now performed in-house under the airline's management. "This couldn’t be possible without everyone at Biman working together," he said. "It saved millions for us. How could this be possible if Biman wasn’t working well?"
A former adviser to the current caretaker government, Chowdhury was appointed chairman of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in August 2024.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines made a net profit of BDT2.82 billion taka (USD23 million) on revenues of BDT105.75 billion (USD865 million) in the 12 months to June 30, 2024.
