By IANS
Dhaka : When Biman Bangladesh Airlines found an overwhelming response from employees for the "golden handshake" it was offering as part of a turnaround strategy, little did it suspect that it was spawning competition.
Now, many of those who went out under the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) want to float a private airline.
They even want to use the brand name "Biman".
'Biman Employees Airlines,' and 'Balaka' are among the other names they are considering for their new venture.
Among the leading enthusiasts for a new "employees airline' is former managing director of Biman, Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, former president of the Bangladesh Airlines Pilots' Association (BAPA) Captain Nasimul Haque and other high-profile former Biman executives.
"They (the voluntarily retired Biman staff) proposed that I join their scheme to run a private airline and I agreed," Captain Nasimul Haque told Bangladesh newspaper The Daily Star.
Biman called for voluntary retirement for 1400 employees as part of trimming operations preparatory to going public last month. Instead, over 2,000 employees opted for the scheme.
The management, in consultation with the civil aviation ministry, accepted 1,836 VRS applications, sending employees out with hefty compensation cheques ranging from taka one to four million (US$16,667 to 66,667).
Haque and other union leaders, who had fought the management of the state-owned company earlier, are trying to garner these funds by seeking written consent of as many of the former employees they can.
A total of Taka 3.25 billion (US$54,166,667) will be required to pay off the 1,863 employees, said a Biman official on condition of anonymity.
The finance ministry has agreed in principle to provide Taka 2.97 billion (US$49,500,000).
All this is good money for the new venture.
However, given the paucity of funds with the Bangladesh Government and the limitations of commercial banks, getting funds may not be easy.
But the new entrepreneurs are raring to go and have drawn plans for new generation aircraft.
Mohammed Sulaiman, one of the former trade union leaders, says they have plans to operate flights on the Dhaka-Dubai-London and the Dhaka-Dubai-New York routes.
"Instead of DC-10 aircraft, we will use Boeing-777," he added.