Raise Quality Of Services To Earn Trust Of Passengers: PM Directs Biman Authorities

"We want Bangladesh Biman to be a more profitable organization. To make it, the national flag carrier will have to earn more trust and confidence of the passengers by raising the quality of services and maintaining its image," she said.

"So I would like to request Biman authorities to give special attention so that its services and maintenance are made international standard, time-befitting and more modern," she said.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating resumption of flight operation of Bangladesh Biman on seven domestic routes and induction of newly-procured two Dash8 Q400s aircraft in the national flag carrier at the VVIP Terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here this afternoon.

Sheikh Hasina also asked the Biman authorities to introduce cargo system side by side with making the national flag carrier time-befitting and more service-oriented to turn it into a more profitable organization.

"The volume of export from Bangladesh is increasing, while we are giving highest importance to build agro and food processing industries. For this, a cargo system is needed to export food items and no airlines could be profitable by only carrying passengers," she said.

"So, we want that you would take proper steps by giving attention to this end," she added.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Khorshed Alam Chowdhury, Chairman of Biman's Board of Governors Air Marshal (retd) Jamaluddin Ahmed and Managing Director Kyle Haywood also spoke on the occasion.

The Prime Minister also announced that Syedpur and Cox's Bazar Airports would be upgraded to international airports.

"We have an aim to turn Syedpur Airport into an international airport. A discussion was held on the issue with Bhutan so that they can use the airport. Besides an EPZ has been set up in North Bengal and we are establishing special economic zone (SEC) there," she said.

"So we want to upgrade Syedpur Airport to an international airport as businessmen and investors would frequently travel to this region for their business purpose after establishing the SEC and giving scope to Bhutan for using the airport," she said.

While talking about Cox's Bazar Airport, Sheikh Hasina said Cox's Bazar is a tourist town where the world's largest sandy beach exists.

"We started the work in 1996 for the development of the sea beach. But after coming to power, the BNP-Jamaat alliance stopped the work," she said.

"Our government has taken initiatives again for the development of the sea beach to attract more foreign and local tourists. Besides, we have earned a huge sea area after the maritime victory over India and Myanmar and we want to utilize this huge resources," she said.

With the upgradation as the international airport, she said, a huge number of travelers would visit Cox's Bazar when East and West-bound aircraft would make an stopover for refuelling or transit.

"So the importance of Cox's Bazar has been increased manifold. So we want to exploit this opportunity by upgrading Cox's Bazar Airport to an international one," she said.

Sheikh Hasina also suggested Biman to find new routes in East Asian countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia and East European countries for strengthening communication. "We could make more development in different sectors including trade and business if the communication system is developed with those countries," she said.

"We have already increased flight frequencies in London, Kuala Lumpur, Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh and Bangkok. Biman would be turned into a more profitable organization and its image will be raised at home and abroad if you become more sincere and maintain professionalism," she said.

In this connection, the Prime Minister reminded the officials and employees of Biman that the national flag career also works as an ambassador of Bangladesh.

Putting emphasis on increasing the quality of ground handling, Sheikh Hasina said Biman authorities should find out a partnership if the Biman cannot handle the matter solely.

"You will have to take necessary steps to this end to increase the quality of service of Biman," she said.

The Prime Minister said the government's commitment to the people is being fulfilled with the resumption Biman flights on the domestic routes through induction of newly procured two Dash8 Q400s aircraft to the Biman fleet today.

Sheikh Hasina said long time expectation of the people would be reflected on Biman's flight movement in Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Jessore, Barisal, Syedpur and Cox's Bazar.

"I am extending my heartfelt thanks and congratulation to those who are directly and indirectly cooperating in this work,"she said. Paying rich tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Prime Minister said Bangabandhu took initiatives to build the national flag carrier "Biman Bangladesh Airlines" side by side with rebuilding the nation immediately after independence.

Sheikh Hasina said Biman Bangladesh Airlines was born as the national flag carrier on January 4 in 1972. "Bangabandhu was so sincere in Bangladesh Biman that he himself supervised the work on making its logo and finalization," she said

The Prime Minister said her government has already taken various initiatives for making parallel to the developed airlines of the world. "These include incorporating modern information technology, introduction e-ticketing, online booking, modernization of seat reservation and purchasing of tickets for domestic routes through credit cards," she said. The Prime Minister said passenger facilities at Shahjalal International Airport have been increased. "Runway development, parking facilities and its upgradation work are being implemented," she said.

She said the government has undertaken a project for construction of the third terminal and second runway," she said, adding initiatives have also been taken to procure 32 boarding bridges.

Sheikh Hasina mentioned that the government has already taken steps to build an airport in Bagerhat.

"A process is underway for finalization of the site for constructing the proposed most modern Bangabandhu International Airport which will be a hub of intercontinental communication," she said.

The Prime Minister said four Boeing 777-300ER aircraft have been added to the Biman fleet for raising passenger transportation capacity. "We hope that two more Boeing 737-800 aircraft would be inducted to the fleet this year," she said.

She said two 777-200ER aircraft have been procured on lease from the Egypt Air, while the Boeing authorities would hand over four 787-8 aircraft in 2019 and 2020 to the government.

Later, the Prime Minister inaugurated the two newly-procured aircraft by cutting a tap and cake.

Official sources said Biman Bangladesh Airlines signed an agreement with Smart Aviation of Egypt for taking two Dash8 Q400s on lease for a period of 5 years. Manufactured by Bombardier of Canada, Dash8 Q400 has 74-seat in a single class.

From tomorrow, the national flag carrier will operate six flights to Cox's Bazar, five to Jessore, three to both Rajshahi and Syedpur and two to Barisal per week. The operation will add up to 25 additional frequencies per week on Chittagong and Sylhet. The total number of seats will grow almost 80 percent weekly to a considerable 14,010, the sources said.

Under the programme, Biman will operate more than 120 flights per week within the country which will oversee a huge growth in domestic operations by the flag-carrier after a long recession.

Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol