Correspondent
Dhaka, Oct 13 The Parliamentary Committee attached to the Civil Aviation Ministry has raised suspicion that the schedule crisis of Biman Bangladesh Airlines last month could have been 'orchestrated'.
The committee also started an investigation to look into the matter, attributing their doubts to the rushed hiring of an aircraft - Boeing 767 - which the national carrier claims was done to address the crisis.
The flight schedule of Biman faced severe crisis last month forcing the carrier to cancel a number of flights and many of them seeing 14 to 16-hour delay, causing huge sufferings for the passengers.
The authorities attributed the crisis to the Sep 12 unannounced departure of a Boeing 747 aircraft rented from Portuguese-carrier Air Atlanta in Muscat. The authorities claimed, the departure before its contract expired during the Hajj season upset the flights.
However, Hajj Association of Bangladesh (HAB) and others related to the civil aviation industry have long been predicting such crisis after Biman authorities decided to emphasise the Hajj flights this year, a warning the airlines did not pay heed to.
The parliamentary body's member Moinuddin Khan Badal told bdnews24.com on Friday, "It is only normal to reach the conclusion that the crisis had an agenda considering the steps Biman took."
He added that they have already started an investigation, headed by the ministry's Secretary Khurshid Alam Chowdhury.
"A crisis can occur anytime while running flights, but there were evidently no precautionary measures taken by Biman. So when a crisis occurred, the general passengers had to suffer," Badal added.
The carrier, hurriedly rented an Boeing 767, which accommodates 262 passengers, from Italian carrier Blue Panorama, which joined the fleet on Sep 25 to address the crisis.
However, questions have arisen about the transparency of the process through which it was rented.
A highly-placed Biman official, on condition of anonymity told bdnews24.com that aircrafts are usually hired based on a cost-profit evaluation and a report drafted after observation of the aircrafts, shortlisted through a tender process.
However, in this case, the Board of Directors gave the approval for the hiring without any of these documents, he alleged.
The official added that even though Blue Panorama claimed that they owned the Boeing 767 in the tender, the aircraft in reality was leased out from US-based International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC).
There were no mention in the long-term plans of the carrier to include a Boeing 767 in its fleet sparking allegations that the schedule-crisis could have been orchestrated to rent the plane.
"If there were no plans to include the plane to the fleet in the long-run, then why was it so hurriedly rented? Whose benefit did it serve? We have to find that out," Moinuddin Khan Badal said.
Former Biman Director Kazi Wahedul Alam shed a different light into the controversy: "They [Biman] failed to get a Boeing 747 for the Hajj flights despite long-time efforts, but suddenly they come up with this new airplane."
"The fleet did not have any 767s before. It is also not clear what they will do with the plane now. If Biman does not have any ill-intention, why did they not hire it before."
The former member of Biman's board also pointed out that the carrier does not have the required skills needed for maintenance of the aircraft.
He also voiced suspicion over how the Air Atlanta aircraft could leave unannounced. "It is impossible for a plane to take-off from any airport without clearance from its user. There is no such records any where in the world."
However, head of Biman Chief Air Marshall (Retd) Jamal Uddin Ahmed refuted the allegations.
"The plane was rented following all regulations. We needed a 260-300 seat aircraft to operate the flights on the Dhaka-London route, which is why we opted for this aircraft."
He added that the Board of Directors approved the hiring after a number of sub-committees examined the proposal.
Addressing the confusion of ownership, the Biman official added, "There is technically no problem with this. They [Blue Panorama] leased out the aircraft for ten years from ILFC. According to the laws, they can also rent out the aircraft in the period."
"Many comment before knowing the whole scenario. I will urge them, go to the Biman office and check the records. Biman has no secrets, every single step is taken transparently."
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