Biman facing pilot crisis

  • Ishtiaq Hussain, Special Correspondent, Barta24.com, Dhaka
  • |
  • Font increase
  • Font Decrease

Photo: Barta24

Photo: Barta24

The national flag carrier Bangladesh Airlines is suffering from pilot crisis. Due to the shortage of pilot, apart from conducting regular flights, they are not able to start flights on new routes or increase the number of flights on existing routes. Due to this, despite the desire of the airline, it is not able to increase the number of flights even on profitable routes.

Currently, the number of pilots in the aircraft is 186 people. But they need about 250 pilots. That means the national flag carrier is still short of more than 60 pilots.

বিজ্ঞাপন

Biman recently issued another notification to overcome the aviation crisis. However, the exact number of people to be taken this time has not been specified.

Earlier, Biman had advertised for 18 pilots for the Dreamliner 787. But only 16 applications were submitted. After all the process, only 4 pilots joined. In just two months, three people left the airline again.

In December 2022, the national flag carrier issued a recruitment notification for pilots for Boeing 777, 787 and 737 model aircraft, soon after outgoing Biman Managing Director Shafiul Azim joined the airline. The recruitment process of this notification in March has not yet been completed.

Before the end of the recruitment process, Biman already started flights to Narita, Guangzhou, Chennai and Rome. After the departure of Shafiul Azim last May, Biman has not yet completed the recruitment of pilots. But Biman started flights on four new routes with the previous pilots.

An airline pilot told this reporter on the condition of anonymity that pilots are losing interest in Biman jobs. This is mainly because the financial package is not competitive. Biman, however, feels that the financial package is not the only issue. There are other reasons for this.

Biman’s recruitment process is quite complex as it involves different interests, which is a big problem. There are also some other issues with this; which cannot be explained. Airmen are employed on permanent, contractual and some other basis.

Anyway, Biman is recruiting cadet pilots to solve aviation problems. Moreover, if Biman buys 26 more aircraft by 2034, it will need at least 300 new pilots. Apart from Biman, other private airlines require about 40 pilots.

An official of Biman said on condition of anonymity that it is difficult for a large airline like Biman to operate flights with so many pilots vacant for a long time.

Biman's General Manager (PR) Bosra Islam sent a written query on WhatsApp seeking her comment on the matter, but she did not respond.