Who answers for the culpable lapse?

This is doubly reprehensible in the knowledge that the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) had expressed reservations about the obsolescence of DC-10 risking passenger safety and security. Earlier, Biman had been fined for rerouting its New York flight through Brussels without FAA permission. That itself reflected a degree of negligence on the part of the authority in Dhaka.

The deplorable state of mismanagement in Biman is manifestly reflected on the hardship the stranded Bangladeshi passengers, including a good number of foreign customers, were subjected to, let alone the high premium paid for flying them to their destinations through other airliners at great loss to the exchequer. Such blatant failure and senseless action on the part of Biman are also contributing to our already deteriorating image.

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Major policy changes are required to revamp Biman's operations with a clear emphasis laid on passenger safety and security in the high-tech aviation business of today which is so fiercely competitive and demanding. We need a modernised fleet. In the immediate term, we go for a realistic selection of routes based on available fleet and other related logistical resources.

Government has to take some hard decisions for a complete overhaul of Biman's management, if it is to become a viable national flag carrier.