Biman announces huge job losses

[GoldenAsif]

Many here it seems are eagerly waiting to read about bad news from Bangladesh. They are not happy about just reading of the antics of the two begums. In addition to that they want to read about bad news in other fields. This bad news, or reading of it, will somehow make them feel better (perverse logic if ever there was one).

So here is some bad news from BD. I am posting it because it is of importance and national concern.

Biman announces huge job losses

Bangladesh's state-owned airline, Biman, has announced plans to slash its workforce by June as part of a privatisation initiative to cut losses.
A senior Biman official told the BBC on Wednesday that more than 1,400 jobs would eventually be lost.

In April the interim government decided to turn Biman into a public limited company by the middle of 2007.

The airline is now so cash-strapped it is struggling to pay salaries and maintain its elderly fleet of aircraft.

Bloated staff

"We are seeking 3bn taka [$43m] from the government to pay off the to-be-retrenched staff ," Biman's Managing Director, MA Momen, told the Reuters news agency.

The authorities have not revealed when shares will be floated on the country's two stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong.

But officials say that initially the government will retain a 100% stake, appointing an operator to run the airline for some time.

Correspondents say that Biman's erratic passenger schedule, the poor state of its 13 elderly aircraft, its bloated staff numbers and its failure to pay fuel bills have all given the impression that it has hit severe turbulence.

It owes 12bn taka ($173.91m) to state-owned fuel supplier Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

A shortage of aircraft forced it to stop flights to New York, Paris, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Brussels, Rangoon and Mumbai in 2006.

In recent years Biman has been beset by corruption allegations, especially over aircraft-leasing, with government-appointed middlemen usually named as the beneficiaries.

The airline's woes have been pinned by many observers on the reluctance of successive governments to relinquish control of Biman and allow it to stand on its own feet.

One report estimated that Biman pays every passenger it transports an average of $20 in compensation for delays.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6638721.stm

[Tigers_eye]

Hopefully in the long run this would be a good news. May be they will be financially profitable like the other private airlines and be able to hire back the workforce that they are losing. I mean get bigger and better.

[Tigers_eye]

1st time when you opened a thread on Biman's Privatization people did take it as a good news. This is part of the good news which could be posted in the same thread.

http://www.banglacricket.com/alochon...ighlight=Biman

[Sauron]

I think this is a very positive move. It is not DOWN-sizing, but rather RIGHT-sizing in the case of Biman. Hopefully it will weed out all the corrupt and inefficient employees.

[gatekeeper]

Biman should really be 1 sixth of its current size as far as number of employees go.

[Zunaid]

This _is_ good news. Biman had become a bloated organization. Overstaffed due to nepotism and political patronage, unable to provide the service for which it was constituted.

[ammark]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4986586.stm

This is an earlier BBC news post. By the looks of the routes they cut, It really doesnt deserve to stick around any more. They might as well do some asset stripping outright. Nuts to Khaleda's "national prestige".

[GoldenAsif]

lol...thanks guys.

I know that in the long run this is good news, but I was viewing it primarily through the eyes of people who will lose their jobs. I feel for them and job security is an issue for many of us.

I will try harder next time to find some real "bad news" in order to satisfy the thirst of those members here who wish to read about negative things. :P