BANGLADESH Biman has been ailing for as long as anyone can remember. It has more often than not failed to maintain its flight schedule …  and tales of corruption and malfeasance among those whose job is to keep it going have been public knowledge over the years.…

And just when we need Biman to reinvigorate itself, especially on international routes, the authorities have decided that flights to five international destinations will remain suspended from Sept 17 to Nov 30. Deep cuts will be made on other routes as well. The move … has been necessitated by the forthcoming Haj. During the period … Biman will be busy carrying Haj passengers to Saudi Arabia and back. …to have so many regular Biman flights taken off the schedule, thereby affecting those who plan to use Biman on their travels is a new low touched in the airline’s profile.

At a time when Biman needs to gain as many passengers as it can and so turn itself into a viable carrier, the decision to suspend [some] flights…for two and a half months is nothing short of the carrier giving itself a big wound. It is not merely that in this long period people intending to travel by Biman will suffer. …when this … flight suspension ends, there is the very real possibility of Biman discovering that it has lost a good number of passengers during the period…— (Sept 9)