An official investigation into so-called "irregularities" regarding the proposed lease of two A330s from Heston Airlines (HN, Vilnius) by Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG, Dhaka) is yet to start even after almost 12 months elapsing since an uproar caused the deal to collapse.
Despite having an adequate in-house fleet capacity, in April last year, an agreement was signed to lease two A330-200s from Heston Airlines to use for upcoming Hajj flights. As reported by ch-aviation at the time, the ACMI deal would have cost the already loss-making state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines BDT1.3-2 billion taka (USD12.2-18.8 million dollars) compared to using its own B777-300ERs.
The agreement was signed on April 30, 2022, at a Biman Bangladesh board meeting attended by eight board members, including now-former chairman Sajjadul Hasan and former managing director Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal. Despite pushback from some board members and senior management figures at the airline, Biman director (Corporate Planning and Training) Mahbub Jahan Khan signed the agreement at the meeting with the backing of Hasan and Kamal and some other attendees.
Khan had issued the lease RFP in March 2022 which attracted responses from 11 airlines and lessors, including AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) and the Avico Group. Almost immediately, the RFP attracted in-house criticism at the airline because it failed to explain the merits of leasing as opposed to using Biman's own aircraft. Heston's offer, which was a block-hour facility at a cost of approximately USD7,000 per hour, was strongly supported by Khan, who is a relative of the former chairman also present at that board meeting. ch-aviation has contacted Heston Airlines for comment but received no response before publication, however, there is no suggestion that they were a party to any irregularities in the proposed lease.
That in-house opposition, including by board director and finance ministry official Abdur Rouf Talukder, saw the deal attract widespread public criticism and caused the State Minister for Civil Aviation, Mahbub Ali, to step in and cancel it amid claims the deal's promoters disregarded Biman Bangladesh's best financial interests. Almost immediately there were calls for an inquiry into the lease and what, if any, irregularities were involved in it. But Dhaka-based media are reporting that no investigation has yet commenced. ch-aviation has contacted Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for further details.
Meanwhile, new Biman Bangladesh managing director Shafiul Azim says the airline will not be leasing any aircraft for Hajj flights this year. Bangladesh is permitted to send over 127,000 pilgrims to perform Hajj in 2023, over double the amount that were allowed to travel last year. Biman Bangladesh, flynas (XY, Riyadh), and Saudia (SV, Jeddah International) split the lucrative Hajj market between them in 2022. This year, pending approval from regulatory agencies in both countries, US-Bangla Airlines (BS, Dhaka) is expected to join the mix with its inbound A330-300s.
