Biman failed to collect Tk 886cr in revenue
Desk report: Biman Bangladesh Airlines lost around Tk 886 crore ($72.5 million) from chartered cargo flights operated between 2020 and 2022, as it failed to collect, account for, or repatriate funds during Covid-era operations, internal investigations reveal.
The national flag carrier launched these flights when international passenger travel hit a wall in the wake of the pandemic, converting idle aircraft into makeshift cargo planes.
But what was intended to be a financial lifeline for Biman turned into a liability, revealing serious weakness in revenue collection, contract management, and financial oversight.
Biman’s internal investigations found major discrepancies in charter contracts, missing invoices, undocumented revenues, waived penalties, and unclaimed incentives offered by foreign government, show documents obtained by The Daily Star.
DUAL CONTRACTS
The most serious irregularities were uncovered on Biman’s Guangzhou route.
A spot-visit investigation report dated May 19, 2025, found two contracts for the same flights operated by Guangzhou-based freight forwarder Superpower Logistics Co Ltd (SPL).
One version, in possession of Biman, fixed the charter rate at $76,000 (Tk 94 lakh) per flight. The other, in SPL’s possession, put the rate at $300,000 (Tk 3.7 crore).
The Daily Star reviewed both contracts covering nine flights between June 13 and 30, 2021. They were signed days apart earlier that month.
Biman’s copy was signed by erstwhile general manager, Dilip Kumar Chowdhury, but the SPL copy had another signature.
Investigators described the discrepancy as evidence of “severe revenue leakage”.
“Biman did not sign the contract executed by SPL, nor did SPL sign the contract executed by Biman, yet it has been treated as an official document by both parties,” said the investigation report.
“Furthermore, in the contract preserved by Biman, SPL’s signature section was digitally cut and pasted [manipulated]. The agreement should have been identical in both instances, and both parties were supposed to retain identical copies,” it added.
Investigators concluded that while SPL disbursed $300,000 per flight, Biman received only $76,000.
SPL was contacted via email but did not respond as of last night.
Dilip Kumar Chowdhury, currently retired, said that the incident was so long ago that he does not recall the specifics and declined to comment.
However, even documented revenues were not collected in full.
According to the Guangzhou investigation report, Biman collected only about $13 million from cargo flights operated on the route.
Based on Biman’s own contract value of $76,000 per flight, the airline should have received roughly $16.4 million.
That leaves a collection shortfall of $3.3 million even under Biman’s version of the contract. It would be about 13 times higher under SPL’s contract value.
Investigators said they were unable to fully trace the money trail because more than four years had passed since the transactions and payment records were not always available. In some cases, invoices were not properly issued.
“Biman did not issue any invoices for the non-scheduled cargo charter flights,” the report stated.
REVENUE GAPS
A separate report identified similar problems across multiple routes.
It found that Biman operated 230 non-scheduled cargo flights between Dhaka and Hong Kong, but only 33 had revenue records.
The documented flights generated about $3.12 million. Based on average earnings per flight, investigators estimated total revenue should have exceeded $21.75 million.
The report, submitted on November 25, 2024, by Revenue Department General Manager Abu Sayeed Md Manzur Imam, also discovered significant discrepancies on two China routes.
Although there had been 212 flights between Dhaka, Guangzhou and Wuhan, investigators found records for only 90.
Available records indicate a total revenue of around $8.35 million, but investigators estimated actual earnings to be more than double that.
The Guangzhou investigation report also found that a dedicated “charter cell” established to track cargo revenue failed to properly account for the operations, resulting in discrepancies between revenue records, budget documents and flight-operation reports.
Investigators found similar accounting failures on the Bangkok route.
According to a revenue department report dated November 10, 2024, Biman operated 85 flights between Dhaka and Bangkok. But investigators found gaps between flight records and revenue statements.
“Due to Biman’s failure to properly record the revenue earned from these 85 chartered flights in its account books, Tk 7.18 crore was excluded from Biman’s accounts/remained uncollected,” said the report.
Investigators also failed to locate contracts for 20 of the flights, making it impossible to calculate the associated revenue that was earned or lost.
On the same Bangkok route, Biman undercharged freight-forwarders for cargo-handling by half the regular price.
“At Dhaka Airport, Biman usually charges $0.15 per kg for non-scheduled cargo handling and terminal handling. However, the agreement executed by the general manager (marketing) for the said non-scheduled cargo (chartered) flights directed a charge of $0.07 per kg for cargo and terminal handling,” said an audit document dated November 24, 2024.
This “discount” cost the national carrier an estimated $270,000 in potential revenue from 3,383 tonnes of cargo.
PENALTIES WAIVED
According to the Guangzhou investigation report, 152 flights on the route were cancelled, but Biman did not collect the resulting penalties as stipulated in the contract.
Documents reviewed by The Daily Star show that Biman was entitled to receive $371,200 in cancellation fees and another $135,000 in ground-time penalties on seven cancelled flights. Yet almost the entire amount was waived except for a token $18,560.
Records show that Mohammed Salahuddin, director of sales and marketing at that time, had recommended the waivers, which were approved by the erstwhile MD and CEO Shafiul Azim.
In his recommendation, Salahuddin argued that the cancellations were linked to Covid-related disruptions, lockdowns and holidays.
However, the contracts clearly state that cancellations made 48 hours before the flight would result in forfeiture of 50 percent of the contract value.
Shafiul Azim, who is also retired, could not comment on the specifics but claimed that all laws were followed to the dot.
The investigations also found no evidence that Biman received financial incentives offered by the Chinese government for cargo operations during the pandemic.
According to the Guangzhou investigation report, China’s Civil Aviation Administration introduced a support programme for cargo operators in 2020 and 2021.
“Across the 212 flights operated to Wuhan and Guangzhou, Biman was entitled to an incentive of about Tk 6.5 crore based on distance and maximum takeoff weight. However, no evidence was found supporting any claim or receipt of this stimulus money by Biman,” said the Guangzhou investigation report.
The report quoted a representative of a Wuhan freight forwarder as saying that the company operating Biman’s chartered flights received substantial incentives that should have gone to Biman.
Biman’s current Managing Director and CEO Kaizer Sohail Ahmed said, “An internal investigation is now underway on Covid-era chartered flights, and we are waiting for the findings.”
AIRCRAFT RUINED
Not only did Biman lose hundreds of crores of revenue, but it was also left with crores of taka’s worth of damage to its planes. Internal documents of an audit and finance sub-committee laid out the details.
It said that due to ruined in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems on four Boeing 777 aircrafts, Biman was not able to operate on the London route.
“The IFE systems were primarily damaged during the Covid pandemic in 2020 because cargo was carried directly on the aircraft seats during cargo flight operations,” said a document from the 7th meeting of the committee held on December 26, 2024.
Another document from the following meeting said that $263,824 was spent on the US-based Thales Avionics to repair 160 seats.
The document claimed that in 2022 another committee under the maintenance department had sought to hide the damage. Back then they had claimed that “the IFE system did not suffer significant damage due to the cargo transportation itself; rather, the IFE system became non-functional because it had remained out of operation for an extended period.”
Several Biman staffers confirmed that the seats were damaged because cargo was carried on them.
