All employees must get approval from MD, CEO before travelling abroad: Biman 

From now on all employees of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, including cockpit crew, will have to get approval from its managing director and CEO before travelling abroad, no matter the reason, the national flag carrier announced today (18 January).

Prior to the announcement, chiefs of the respective departments of the airlines had the authority to approve their subordinates for foreign visits, Biman MD and CEO Shafiul Azim told The Business Standard.

Biman also set certain conditions for all of its employees when visiting abroad in an administrative order issued today.

According to the new decision, all Biman employees may visit outside Bangladesh either for better treatment of the applicant or along with their family members as attendants, to visit places of religious importance once every two years, or to visit near relatives or tourist places twice a year.

The employees will have to apply to the admin cell concerned, and then the application will go through the security and foreign affairs departments to receive the necessary security clearance and approval for the visit outside the country.

Biman's latest announcement comes in the aftermath of two of its employees going missing recently.

One of them, Assistant Manager (Administration) Md Anwar Hossain went missing after going to Canada on Biman's BG-305 flight from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on 7 December. Another, Shohan Ahmed, a commercial supervisor of Biman, has not shown up for work since 24 October.

The airlines on Wednesday said strict action will be taken against the two pilots. 

On January 15, Biman filed a case with the Airport Police Station alleging that Anwar Hossain went to Canada without the permission of its authorities, which affected the flag carrier negatively.