Biman defends pilot appointment process

The state flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines has claimed that the appointment of its pilots complied with the regulations of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) and that passenger safety was not be compromised.

The airline made the claim in an internal verification report prepared by its flight operations directorate after its legal department sought clarification over allegations of irregularities in the issuance of a pilot's licence, reports New Age.

Meanwhile, the High Court has concluded hearings on a public interest litigation petition challenging alleged irregularities in the issuance of commercial pilot licences and airline transport pilot licences to some Biman pilots.

A High Court bench comprising Justice Ahmed Sohel and Justice Fatema Anwar fixed Thursday for delivering its verdict.

The petition was filed by Supreme Court lawyer Md Towfiqur Rahman, seeking judicial intervention over allegations that some pilots did not meet the required qualifications to obtain their licences.

Earlier, the High Court issued a rule asking why the authorities' failure to complete the investigation into the licences of certain Biman pilots within the stipulated period should not be declared unlawful.

The court also asked why the authorities should not be directed to complete the investigation within 15 days in view of passenger safety concerns.

According to Biman's verification report, the airline's legal department initially sought comments from the flight operations directorate regarding the allegations.

However, the chief of safety submitted observations directly to the managing director and chief executive officer instead of routing them through the directorate.

The flight operations directorate maintained that the issue concerned regulatory compliance rather than flight safety. It said Captain Abdur Rahman Akand had served Biman for nearly 11 years without any safety-related incident.

According to the report, Abdur Rahman joined Biman on January 1, 2015, as a direct-entry first officer with 1,778 flying hours. After completing the mandatory training, he operated his first Boeing 737 flight as a first officer on March 30, 2015.

He was later transferred to the Boeing 777 fleet and subsequently promoted to Boeing 737 captain after fulfilling all regulatory and company requirements, the report said.

Addressing questions over the no-objection certificate issued for his appointment, the directorate referred to Writ Petition No. 12368 of 2014, saying the legal issue had already been settled through court proceedings.

The report concluded that Biman had not violated any CAAB regulations and that passenger safety had not been compromised. It was signed by Flight Operations Director AKM Aminul Islam on January 26, 2026.

During the hearing, Biman's counsel Saifur Rashid told the court that the airline had already completed the investigation sought in the writ petition, which was filed following a newspaper report alleging irregularities in pilot licensing.

The petitioner's counsel, Shah Bakhtiar Elias, submitted that the rule was issued upon the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh as it is the regulatory body responsible for verifying CPL licences.

He said that Biman Bangladesh Airlines cannot conduct such verification because pilots join the airline only after obtaining their CPL licences. Biman itself has also stated in its report that CAAB, as the regulator, has the final authority on this matter.

Therefore, he argued, the verification of the CPL licence can only be carried out by CAAB.

As the country's aviation regulator, CAAB must follow International Civil Aviation Organisation rules and cannot simply approve or endorse any report submitted by Biman if such action is not permitted under ICAO guidelines, he added.