problemi per Biman

[landingFCO]

Che peccato, non vedro' più Biman a Bruxelles

In effetti è un peccato. E' parecchio che volano su quella rotta, tra l'altro avevano pure i diritti di traffico Bruxelles-NY.

Inizio a pensare che i voli westbound abbiano lo stop a Dubai perché non ce la fanno ad arrivare in Europa non-stop...possibile?

Mah mi sembra però strano, fanno anche FCO-DAC nonstop o DAC-LHR nonstop che non sono propriamente brevi.
Effettivamente però spiegazioni logiche non ne trovo.


Ciao

[landingFCO]

Un'articolo interessante che analizza la situazione attuale di Biman, le sue difficoltà, le cause di queste e le possibili 'cure'.


Biman loses profitable routes to foreign airlines
Political decisions prevail over professional marketing plan
Sharier Khan

Political decisions overriding the professional marketing plans of Biman Bangladesh Airlines are helping foreign flag carriers eat up a few of its profit-making routes to the Middle Eastern destinations.

At the same time, Biman is being forced to operate on some loss-incurring routes, sources said.

For instance, the government in August last year allowed Qatar Airways to increase its weekly flights between Dhaka and Doha to seven from four.

The decision spearheaded by former civil aviation minister Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin ignored Biman's report that the increased facility to Qatar Airways would devour an annual potential revenue of Tk 26 crore, said a source.

Added to such marketing error is the national flag carrier's high operation cost caused by high insurance premium and very costly procurement.

Because of Biman's poor technical performance in recent times, it now pays insurance premium of 3.2 percent of the hull value of each aircraft instead of a normal range of 1.2 percent to 1.5 percent. Biman's pay is one of the highest in the world.

Though Biman incurs heavy losses every year due to mismanagement, corruption and lack of aircraft, all of its 40 flights to eight Middle Eastern destinations are making profits.

These routes bring over 60 percent of Biman's revenue. Biman gets at least 80 percent of its passengers on these routes -- Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Maskat, Bahrain and Kuwait.

On the other hand, most of its flights to other destinations including London, New York and Japan are incurring heavy loss. The decisions to operate Biman on the New York and Tokyo routes are again not driven by any marketing plan.

Besides, bowing to the political wishes, Biman operates its wide-bodied aircraft -- DC10 and Airbus -- on domestic routes of Chittagong and Sylhet incurring huge loss. These aircraft fly to Chittagong twice a day and Sylhet once a day at least.

Sources said the wide-bodied planes are very expensive to operate short-haul flights and the cost is invariably much higher than the earning.

"Biman bears extra cost for tire, fuel and brakes in every short-haul flight of these aircraft. This is not justifiable. The smaller F28 flights are good enough on these domestic routes," said a source. Biman operates five flights a day to Chittagong and three to Sylhet with F28s.

To achieve a break-even point, Biman must have at least 75 percent passengers in each of its flights. For most other airliners, having 40 percent passengers in each flight makes a break-even point.

"Biman must have such high ratio of passengers to reach the break-even point because its operation, procurement or leasing cost is very high," the source pointed out.

A reason for high procurement cost is that Biman remains stubborn about not changing its large aircraft type of DC10 and Airbus. DC10 has become obsolete and its spares, being scarce, are very expensive.

However, aviation industry experts believe Biman can still minimise the losses.

"Considering Biman's constraints and socioeconomic condition, its most important route should be the Middle East as we have over 2.5 million immigrant workers there," said a source.

"With limited number of aircraft, Biman should focus its entire operation on the profit-making routes to the Middle East. The number of passengers on these routes have risen so phenomenally that most Middle Eastern airliners are trying to increase their flights to Dhaka," said an aviation industry expert.

"Biman should consider closing down the loss-making routes and divert the flights entirely to the profit-making ones," the expert added.

During each Tokyo and New York flight, an aircraft remains engaged for four days. Moreover, the entire crew stay at expensive hotels in Tokyo and New York for a week, forcing Biman to incur further loss, he explained.

"These two aircraft could earn big profits on the Middle East routes instead of incurring huge loss in these two destinations," he said.

But such ideas are typically shelved as Biman must obey the wishes of the policymakers. "It is such a tradition that Biman has never even hired any professional marketing personnel," he added.

"Biman's one of the weakest area is its marketing," said another official. "We get huge booking for the Middle Eastern routes not because our marketing department facilitates it. It's because the Bangladeshis abroad love everything Bangladeshi.

"Unfortunately, that love has never been reciprocated. Biman's ticket booking system is flawed, its outstation offices are outrageously ill-equipped and office bearers are mostly rude.

"Above all, the service given to the Middle East-bound immigrant workers is nothing but a sham. The crew in general are rough and impatient with the half-literate immigrant passengers, not keeping in mind these are the people, who have still kept Biman alive."

- Tha daily star -



P.S.
Anche oggi BG ha volato regolarmente a FCO.


Ciao