A Report on

Analysis the Service Gap of Biman Bangladesh Airlines

An Empirical Study

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UNITED INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Services Marketing (MKT-4102)
Report on

Analysis the Service Gap of Biman Bangladesh Airlines

An Empirical Study
Submitted To:
Mirza Mohammad Didarul Alam
Assistant Professor
School of Business and Economics

Submitted By:
Name

ID

Class Serial

Md. Shahaid Jurain Alam

Proma Rahman
Suborna Deb Roy
Hasanul Haque
A.K.M. Fazla Rabbi Khan

111 121 645

111 121 069
111 121 587
111 113 087

32
14
29
12

Section:A
Date of submission: 31st December, 2015

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Letter of Transmittal

31st December, 2015

Mirza Mohammad Didarul Alam
Assistant Professor
School of Business & Economics
United International University
Subject: Letter of transmittal for term paper.
Sir,
With due honor, We wish to inform you that it was a matter of great pleasure as well as
learning to prepare report on Analysis of Service Gap of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
under the course of Services Marketing. To prepare the paper, we collected and studied
materials in due time and analyzed these and eventually finalize the term paper.
Actually we have enjoyed more in preparing this term paper and develop new business. We
have worked hard to prepare this report. So we would highly oblige if the content of the
report have been acceptable to you.
Though we have put our best efforts yet it is very likely that the report may have some
mistakes and omissions that are unintentional. So, we hope that the report will worthy of
your consideration.

Yours obediently,
Md. Shahaid Jurain Alam
On behalf of the group
...

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At the very beginning we would like to express our deepest gratitude to Almighty Allah for
giving us the strength and the composure to finish the task within the schedule time. Our
sincere gratitude goes to our honorable teacherMirza Mohammad Didarul Alam, instructor
ofServices Marketing in United international University.
The opportunity that Mirza Mohammad Didarul Alamsir has given us was really help full to
get much informative. Therefore, we consider us as very lucky individuals as we were
provided with an opportunity to be a part of it. We are also grateful for having a chance to
explore so many knowledge for making this report. Without his support and encouragement
this assignment would not possible such an endeavor to enhance our practical knowledge
about the real situation.
We would like to show our warm-hearted gratitude to the Marketing department of Biman
Bangladesh Airlines Ltd; which has provided me with great deal of information, adequate
data and lastly co operated us for the accomplishment of this report successfully. Finally, last
but not the least, we would like to thank each and every Staffs of the different marketing
section of Biman specially Mr. Aftab Uddin Sharkar (Manager tariff), Mr. Ali Osman Nur
(Assistant Manager tariff),Md Shamsul Huda (Commercial Officer Tariff) Md. Rafiul Alam,
Md. Hafizul Islam,Mr Maruf (Assistant Manager HR) for their kind assistance regarding the
report Without whom it would not possible for us to complete this difficult task, We got all
necessary guideline, cooperation, advice from them to complete this complicated task.
We are very much thankful to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, its management, especially
employees of Marketing & Sales for their cordial support to prepare this difficult study with
important information and data.

Thanks all from core of our hearts.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Biman is the national flag carrier, which is fully owned and operated by the
Government of Bangladesh. The corporate body of Biman, namely Bangladesh
Biman Corporation, is doing business as Biman Bangladesh Airlines under the
Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism. Biman was established as of a corporation
on 27 October 1972 with a vision to protect Biman Bangladesh Airlines ltd. in the
aviation market as a world-class airline.
Biman has experienced man power that it is really a good strength though the
management of Biman cannot work independently because of government
intervention. At the same time considering the global standard of International
Airlines, Biman is lagging behind. The staffs are not provided with modern
technologies like Computer, internet facilities etc. The labor passengers have an
extreme attraction for the national flag carrier for its home like hospitality. The
returning residents also prefer national carrier for home essence. But the free entry of
mega carriers like Saudia, Gulf, Etihad etc. is creating threat for International market.
Even domestic private airlines are chasing with the similar pace of Biman.
Currently, Biman Bangladesh Airlines offers 16 Domestic and 102 International flights
through its 13 local and 28 worldwide branch offices. A two-class service (J and Y) is
operated on Biman's wide-body airliners and a single class service is available on the
smaller aircraft. Biman also operates a cargo service using the cargo holds of its passenger
aircraft to ship freight to international destinations. It has established Cargo Village at
Shahjalal International Airport where the cargo is packaged and labeled before being loaded
onto its aircraft. In addition to normal passenger the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca for
the Hajj is undertaken by thousands of Bangladeshs predominantly Muslim population. Air
fare pricing is a complicated job.
Bangladesh has an aviation market of about 3.5 million passengers in respect of passenger
travel and about 10 million tons in respect of cargo .The market is expanding rapidly but due
to the different cause Biman has lost its reputation and carrying less portion of the market.
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Biman Airlines is very much bureaucratic which makes delay in providing service to its
customers. Nepotism is one of the barriers for not getting right resources. It is a good to
mention that the management of Biman has realized the necessity of technological
improvement for smooth operation although its too late. The Board is not accountable to a
higher authority because the Minister of Aviation is the Chairman of the Board himself.
Biman has suffered from being politicized in many aspects. Corruption in different sectors
of Biman is another significant barrier that is making it difficult for the organization to break
away from loss making ways. Again, delay in flight has been a common phenomenon for
Biman. To help Biman move out from its old-fashioned way of management, to
accommodate the future opportunities and to avert the current crisis and threats, it is
extremely essential for Biman to undertake some immediate initiatives such as policy revise
modernization, proper planning, experienced and professional manpower and take a
mechanism to stop corruption. We analyze the gap between expectation and perception
based on Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, and Tangible. Than we conduct
t-test and p-test from that we know the gap between the customers expectation and
perception under each dimension mentioned above. At last, we have done regression and
correlation analysis to know the effect of each dimension over another and ultimately over
customer satisfaction.
In this report, some suggestions have been made. It is really tough to comment any issue
perfectly in this small work. But the strong and active support of our dissertation supervisor
Mirza Mohammad Didarul Alam, was our main inspiration to accomplish it. We express our
heartfelt gratitude to her.

Table of Contents

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Chapter # 1..............................................................................................................................................................2
1.1

Introduction............................................................................................................................................2

1.2

Background of study...............................................................................................................................2

1.3

Objective of study...................................................................................................................................2

1.3.1

Broad objective..............................................................................................................................2

1.3.2

Specific objective...........................................................................................................................2

1.4
1.4.1
1.5

Methodology of the study.......................................................................................................................3

Sources of the Data........................................................................................................................3
Limitation of study..................................................................................................................................3

Chapter # 2..............................................................................................................................................................4
2.1

Literature Review...................................................................................................................................4

Chapter # 3 Brief Description about Gold Gym....................................................................................................11

3.1

Goal......................................................................................................................................................11

3.2

History of Gold Gym.............................................................................................................................11

3.4

Timing...................................................................................................................................................11

3.5

Equipment.............................................................................................................................................11

3.6

Trainer..................................................................................................................................................12

3.7

Services.................................................................................................................................................12

3.8

Membership process.............................................................................................................................12

Chapter # 4 Analysis & Findings...........................................................................................................................13

4.1

GAP Analysis........................................................................................................................................13

4.2

Correlation...........................................................................................................................................15

4.3

Regression analysis..............................................................................................................................16

Chapter # 5 Recommendation & Conclusion........................................................................................................17

5.1

Recommendation..................................................................................................................................17

5.2 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................17
Chapter # 6............................................................................................................................................................18
6.1

Reference..............................................................................................................................................18

6.2

Appendix...............................................................................................................................................18

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Chapter # 1

1.1

Introduction

Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd. The national flag carrier of Bangladesh has started
itsjourney from scratch virtually with no aircraft, no ancillaries. It came into
operation immediately after the war of independence. Despite many odds on its
journey towards a long and challenging way to progress, Biman has been able to
establish its reputation as an airline of welcome smile and an ocean of hospitality.
Biman now carries the national flag of Bangladesh to South Asia, South-East Asia
and Far-East, Gulf and Middle-East region and European Countries. A steady
progress has been made with better services ensuring increased passengers. To make
Biman passengers feel once Biman always Biman the airline has recently brought
in some qualitative changes in its service concept. Biman has been aiming in
achieving the goal of being truly international commercially viable airline of the
region with its warmth and friendliness, care, safety record, traditional hospitality
and comfort of the services it offered. Biman is now flying even higher with great
pride around the globe with the bi-color, the nations flag. In this report we conduct
an empirical survey about the service expectation and perception of Biman
Bangladesh. It is very essential to know about customer, what their expectation is
and what they had perceived from a firm. Here, we find the gap and resolve the
problem to make customer more satisfied. We analyze the gap between expectation
and perception based on Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, and
Tangible. Than we conduct t-test and p-test from that we know the gap between the
customers expectation and perception under each dimension mentioned above. At
last, we have done regression and correlation analysis to know the effect of each
dimension over another and ultimately over customer satisfaction. At the end of the
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report, there are some recommendation given that may help to Biman Bangladesh to
satisfy their passengers more easily.
1.2

Background of study
We are the students of the School of Business and Economics, under the course of
Services Marketing, as our assigned task is to find out the gap between customer
expectation and perception of Biman Bangladesh Airlines. To complete this we took
survey based on selected questionnaire and to analysis the gap between perception and
expectation. Then we had made hypothetical test and find the gap. We had also done
regression analysis and correlation analysis. Based on this analysis we found where we
need to take corrective action where the gap is to achieve the ultimate goal that is
minimizing the gap between expectation and perception. We have identified the level of
satisfaction and dissatisfaction for the services what they get from the service
organization. The gap between customer expectation and perception has been identified
with the help of SERVQUAL Model, where there are five dimensions- Reliability,
Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy and Tangibility.

1.3

Objective of study

Every study, there must be some objectives. In our report, there also some objective of the
study on Analyzing the Service Gap of Biman Bangladesh Airlines. That is, about the
issues of customer services, their expectation, their perception etc. that we have traced for
the report. Basically, there are two types of objectives of the study. One is the broad
objective and the other one is the specific objective.
1.3.1

Broad objective

From this study we want to know about the service quality of the Biman Bangladesh
Airlines on the basis of five dimensions and effects of those dimensions on the customer
satisfaction.

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1.3.2

Specific objective

To measure the customer expectation about the service of Biman Bangladesh

Airlines.
To measure the customer perception about the service of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
To find out the gap between customer expectation and perception of Biman

Bangladesh Airlines.
To analyze the relationship between (co-relation analysis) the dimensions and

customer satisfaction.
To identify the relationship of regression analysis..

1.4

Methodology of the study

The task is to find out the gap. So, we want to know five dimensions of services quality of
Biman Bangladesh Airlines. WE conduct T-test, P-test and GAP analysis and analysis all the
data to get a result. Lastly, we conduct Co-relation and Regression analysis and find out the
relationships among the dimensions.
1.4.1

Sources of the Data

There are two sources of collecting information which are primary and secondary source.
For doing this report we depend on the both primary and secondary sources of data.

1.5

Primary
a) Target population: Passengers of Biman Bangladesh Airlines
b) Sample size: Fifty both male and female
c) Sample technique: Random sampling technique.
d) Data collection period: 24th November, 2015 to 18th December, 2015.
Limitation of study

The main limitations of this study are the constraints of resources, access and time. It is
limiting the study of the island with airports. The choices of sampling method depend
entirely on the resources available.

Time Limitation: Very limited time was one of the most faced obstacles while
preparing this report. The duration of preparing the full report in nearly one
month, which is very insufficient to understand about the customer expectations
and their perceptions. Due to time shortage, details of many aspects of the
services of Biman Bangladesh Airlines have to ignore in this report.
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Place Limitation: It is not possible to reach everyone as well as all people to

collect the information. We have collected the information from the customers in
Dilkusha,motijhil and Mohammadpur, krishi market.

Chapter # 2

2.1 Literature Review

1. International Journal of Management and Strategy
(IJMS) 2012, Vol. No.3, Issue 5, July-Dec.2012
Title: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION MEASUREMENT IN AIRLINE SERVICES: AN
EMPIRICAL STUDY OF NEED GAP ANALYSIS
AUTHOR: Dr. Makarand Upadhyaya, Associate Professor (Marketing), College of Business
Management, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.
In his study Dr. M Upadhaya has focused on customer complaint and its quick resolution. In
Airlines industry customer complains plays a vital role in customer satisfaction. He focused
on 2 types of complain, controlled complaint are those which is under control such as fare
related problems, flight delays, misbehaviour by staff, etc. and uncontrolled are those such
as weather problems, technical fault, etc. So for solving these problems trained staff is
required who can effectively minimize or handle these problems.
2) International Review of Business Research Papers
Volume 6. Number 6. December 2010 Pp.48 65
Title: A Comparative Study between Indian Public and Private (Low Cost) Airlines With
Respect To Their Passenger Service
Author: Dipa Mitra.
In her study she has given importance on healthy relationship between customer and the
Airline service provider. The Airlines Industry today should aim not only at delivery of the
service tothe passengers, but they should also focus on satisfying the passengers with the
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services. They need to know the customer preferences and should bring changes according
to that. Then the customer will be satisfied. Some of the private players are very much
concerned about their passengers as well as some of them are implementing low price
strategy to attract the passengers. So in this competitive age, the success of Airlines is very
much dependent on the passenger service provided at all levels, after and during the journey
to make their passengers satisfied.
3) ZENITH
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
Vol.2 Issue 2, February 2012, ISS N 2231 5780
Title:A STUDY ON SERVICE QUALITY AND PASSENGER SATISFACTION
ON INDIAN AIRLINES.
Author: R.ARCHANA and DR.M.V.SUBHA
They have studied the factors which influences on passenger satisfaction. They have
identified that Cuisines provided, seat comfort, safety these factors have an important role in
customer satisfaction. They have also found that customer satisfaction depends on personal
entertainment, which is an important factor in flying decisions of passenger. According to
their study online seat booking, call centre facilities and reservation/cancellation is highest
influencing factor in flying decisions of the passengers.
4) Title:Application of Customer Relationship Management in Airline Industry
Authors:Mohammad. J. Tarokh and Mahmoud Majidi.
According to Mohammad. J. Tarokh and Mahmoud Majidi customer relationship
management has a vital role in satisfaction of Airlines services. The marketers should
understand the customer needs and wants to satisfy those needs. For that building a good
relation is very important with the customers. They have talked about Airline e-CRM which
provides an understanding of customer behaviour and enables airlines to measure results of
marketing changes. E-CRM supports fully digital information exchange between airlines
and customers, reduced cost of a customer contact. It also helps to dynamically adapt to
customer behaviors.
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5) Title: The Impact of Expectation & Perception on Customer Satisfaction in

Airline Industry (A Case Study of Mahan Air)
Authors:Dariush Rafati and Peyman Shokrollahi.
In their studies they have talked about the gap between customer expectations and
perceptions about services. They have said that according to the educational level the
expectation of the customer differs. They have also said that gap between customer's
expectations and perceptions in airline service attributes help top managers to
understandwhich services are important to customers and which services are consistent to
customers perceptions.
6)

INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

OF

CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH

IN

BUSINESS
VOL 4, NO 6. OCTOBER 2012.
Title:IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:
STUDY OF AIRLINE INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN.
Authors:Muhammad Bilal Ahmad, Ejaz Wasay and Saif Ullah Malik.
Employee motivation is an important factor, which may be directly or indirectly related to
customer satisfaction. If the employees are well motivated then they perform better job. And
if the employees work efficiently and provide services to the customer then the customer get
satisfied.They have said employee motivation is affected by both personal characteristics as
well as workplace environment.If the employees behave nicely with the customer then the
customer feel good and they think the company is showing respect and providing value. And
the employee behaviour will be good when they will be motivated and there is a healthy pay
system and work environment.

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7) Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(11): 718-723, 2011

ISSN 1991-8178
Title:Customer Satisfaction Delivery In Airline Industry In Malaysia: A Case of Low Cost
Carrier.
Authors:Jayaraman Munusamy, Shankar Chelliah, Sivamurugan Pandian.
They have found that the factors such as the pre-flight services which they are proving,
customer relationship management and cabin environment and in-flight services that
customers are getting influence customer satisfaction. If these are very good then customer
gets satisfied. The customers will be satisfied if the cabin facilities, baggage systems are
well maintained. Customer satisfaction also depends on how they are maintaining
relationship with the customers. How the staffs are behaving with customer, entertainment
facilities, timing plays a key role in customer satisfaction in Airlines Industry.

8) Open Access Scientific Reports. Degirmenci et al., 1:5

http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/scientificreports.294
Title:Customer Satisfaction Measurement in Airline Services Using Servqual.
Authors: Elif Degirmenci, Huseyin Basligil, Ahmet Bolat and Yavuz Ozdemir.
In their study they have focused on service quality, CRM, Loyalty, Airline Service Quality
etc., which play an important factor for customer satisfaction. To satisfy the customer the
Airlines Company should maintain good relationship with them. It will be possible when
they will provide the best quality service to the customer. The service provider should take
care of in-flight services, it has to be improved. Then the loyalty of customers will be
increased. Customer loyalty depends on the educational level of the customer.

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9) CFS AVIATION INDUSTRY CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY 2010

In this report the study was conducted in Nigeria. It is found that they prefer advance ticket
booking services and they have bad experience. So to satisfy the customer the Airlines
Company should take care of this issue. Customers also think about safety and security in
flight. So the marketers need to improve the security system. The service providers need to
make a smooth process of ticket reservation and ticket cancellation. Customer satisfaction
mainly depends on these above issues.
10) Title: Improving Customer Satisfaction in an Airlines Industry.
By: BREAKTHROUGH MANAGEMENT GROUP INTERNATIONAL
According to the report the report Cabin appearance Staff should be trained well. They
should also give importance to build effective communication in all locations.

11) Title: Measuring Customer Expectations of Service Quality: case Airline Industry
By:Ekaterina Tolpa
Date: 06.06.2012
According to the report it is found that the importance is given on the quality of the services
in order to satisfy the customer. When the expectations of the customer get fulfilled then
they become satisfied. Service quality includes customer safety, flight frequency, reliability
etc. They should also focus on customer segmentation. When the flight frequencies get
increased and safety measure is available then the customers get satisfied.

12) Customer Satisfaction Heterogeneity and Shareholder Value

Rajdeep Grewal
Alka V. Citrin
Murali Chandrashekaran
Revision Requested, Under Second Review: Journal of Marketing Research
October 2008
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In this researcher paper researcher has describe the importance of investment. They have
done a research which says that shareholder value and the growth of company depends upon
the investment done by the company i.e. in which sector or in which department they has
invested its money. In this research they have adopted the view that customer satisfaction is
a key marketplace asset, they have tested two conjectures: (a) objective service quality and
advertising impact not only the level of customer satisfaction, but also the heterogeneity in
this asset get impacted, and (b) Satisfaction heterogeneity will decrease the utility of the
satisfaction asset in driving shareholder value, and also influence the contemporaneous
volatility in shareholder value. They have done this research using secondary data from
diverse sources describing the dynamics within the U.S. Airlines Industry over a 9year
period from 1997- 2005. They come to conclusion that increasing levels of satisfaction
heterogeneity serve to reduce the volatility in shareholder value.
13) International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Montreal Geneva
Vision 2050
Singapore, 12 February 2011
Giovanni Bisignani - Director General & CEO IATA
The whole research is done on the future problems, need, requirement, changes that will be
face by aviation industry. The problem describe in this research is that the number of
passengers increasing day by day and the cost of travelling has decrease, if this the scenario
now what will be in 2050. So the modification that aviation industry should do for their
benefits are mention and research has been done on these things. Solution trace out by the
research is that all the company in this industry should be united and there should be no
competition, all should go hand in hand. Even they should pursue government to join with
them. There should be change in the leadership. They said that last decade has shown that by
working together with a common purpose, change is possible and also flexibility and
openness to change will mark the way forward.

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14) Linkages between customer service, customer satisfaction and performance in the airline
industry: Investigation of non-linearity and moderating effects
Adams B. Steven*
Yan Dong
Martin Dresner
Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
This research paper investigates the linkages between customer service and customer
satisfaction, and firm performance in the U.S. airline industry. They had examined the
moderating effects of market concentration and firm dominance on the service-satisfactionperformance relationship. This research says that customer satisfaction and airlines
profitability are dependent and they are affected by the market. Research says that
considering customer satisfaction and customers services airlines industries can increase
their profit.

Chapter # 3
Brief Description aboutBiman Bangladesh Airlines

3.1 Company Summary

Vision:
To protect Biman Bangladesh Airlines ltd. in the aviation market as a world-class airlines
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Mission:
To provide safe, Reliable, Efficient and Economical air transport services and to satisfy
customers exceptions while earning sustainable profit and continuing to be a caring
employer.
Goal:
To provide and develop Safe, Efficient, Adequate, Economical and properly coordinated air
transport services, internal as well as international.
Name and logo:
Biman Bangladesh Airlines
White stork flying across the red sun.
Head Office of Biman:
Balaka Bhaban, Biman Head Office, Kurmitola
Dhaka-1219, Bangladesh
Slogan:
Your Home in the Sky
Website:
www.biman-airlines.com

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3.2

History ofBiman Bangladesh Airlines

Biman Bangladesh Airlines was established on 4 January 1972 as Bangladesh's national airline
under the Bangladesh Biman Ordinance .The initiative to launch the flag carrier was taken by 2,500
former employees, including ten Boeing 707commanders and seven other pilots of Pakistan
International Airlines, who submitted a proposal to the government on 31 December 1971
following the independence of Bangladesh. The airline was initially called Air Bangladesh
International but was soon changed to its current name.
On 4 February 1972, Biman started its domestic service on the DhakaChittagong, Dhaka Jessore
and DhakaSylhet routes with a World War II vintage Douglas Dakota and Douglas DC-3, both
gifts from the Bangladesh Air Force. On 10 February 1972, Biman experienced its first accident
when the Douglas DC-3 crashed near Dhaka during a flight test, killing all five crew members. On
4 March 1972, Biman started its international operations with a once-a-week flight to London using
a Boeing 707 chartered from British Caledonian. Eventually in the first year of operation, Biman
operated 1,079 flights carrying just over 380,000 passengers.
The airline was wholly owned by the Bangladesh government through the Bangladesh Biman
Corporation since its inception. In 1977, Biman was converted into a public sector corporation
which afforded Biman limited autonomy, led by a government-appointed board of directors. The
authorized share capital was increased to BDT 2 billion in 1987, and Biman was transformed into a
public limited company, the largest in Bangladesh, in 2007.

3.3

Product/Service Offering

An airlines mainly sells service. It carries passenger or cargo or both from one point to another
point. Biman Bangladesh offers 16 Domestic and 102 International flights through its 13 local and
28 world wide branch offices. From the last 2 decades Biman carried its passengers by using the
following four types of aircrafts:

McDonnel Douglas Dc-10-30

Airbus Indstries A310-300 series
Fokker f-28
British Aerospace ATP
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Biman Bangladesh Airlines basically provides two categories of services:

-Domestic Flights
-International Flights
Domestic flights:
Currently Biman has the following domestic flights:

Sylhet
Chittagong
Coxs bazaar

International flights:
Bangladesh Biman provides 51 departure and 51 arrival fights per week.It has the following
International flights from Dhaka to:
Abu Dhabi
Delhi
Jeddah
London
Riyadh
3.4

Bahrain
Bangkok
Calcutta
Katmandu
Rome

Hongkong
Dubai
Karachi
Kualalumpur
Brussels

Singapore
New York
Doha
Paris
Muscat

Mumbai
Frankfurt
Kuwait
Tokyo
Yangoon

Management

The airline has been wholly owned by the Bangladesh government through the Bangladesh Biman
Corporation since its inception. In 1977,Biman was converted into a public sector corporation
which afforded Biman limited autonomy, governed by a board of directors appointed by the
government .The authorized share capital was increased to Tk 2 billion in 1987,and Biman was
transformed into a public limited company ,the largest in Bangladesh, in 2007.

3.5 Operational network organ gram

Biman has a Multi level organization structure. The board of directors is the highest authority
.Where CEO is the top management. It has about 5 layer management supervision.
Authority is delegated from highest to downward level. The chart in the next page the current organ
gram of Biman.

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Board of Directors:
CEO

Director
mkt & sales

Gm
Dist. sales

Dy. GM.
Sales
promotion

Director
Customer
service

GM
sales

Director
admin.

Gm cargo

Country
District
Manager

Director
finance

Director
e store &
eng.

Director
project&
planning

Director
flight
Oper.

Gm
Marketing

Manager
export

Dy. G.M
Marketing

Manager
import

Manager
reservation

Dy G.M
sales

Manager
Counter

Manager
Pax
& cargo
sales

Manager
Market
Research

Manager
Agency
interline
Manager
Tariff
& IATA
aff.

Manager
Communic
ation

Figure 1: Biman Organization Structure

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3.6

Performance

Bangladesh has an aviation market of about 3.5 million passengers in respect of passenger
travel and about 10 million tons in respect of cargo .The market is expanding rapidly .Biman
being the national carrier used to carry loin portion of this market but due to the different
cause Biman has lost its reputation and carrying less portion of the market. The different
charts in the following pages will show the performance of Biman.

Sources wise Contribution:

Source wise Contribution

Year 20072008 (BDT in
Source
Lac)
Passenger
185241.00
Cargo
30257.00
Ex
Baggage
3918.00
Total
219416.00

Figure 3: Revenue earning region wise

From the above figure, there is brief picture of the performance of Biman Bangladesh
Airlines. Currently, Biman is not performing well as per expectation. The present Prime
Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has taken some initiatives to re-design Biman. But it
is a matter of regret that Biman management has not taken remarkable action to improve the
condition even after the urge of Prime Minister. A recent article by Abdullah Mohibuddin,
former DC10 flight engineer, has clearly mentioned the recent scenario of Biman. Let us take
you in to the article:
In her speech the Prime Minister called for stern action against corruption and
irregularitiesin Biman. She asked Biman officials to start Dhaka-New York flight and also
introduce e-ticketing as this would help stop the irregularities involving ticket booking.
Biman management promised her that New York flights would be resumed in March, 2010.
But we are yet to see any sign of it. If anyone visits Biman's website, he/she will find
nothing about online ticketing, but a bunch of useless information. Biman management will
always have an answer: we are trying our best. Ultimately, this is a sort of dileman.
Websites are updated on a real time basis now and some airlines even offer boarding cards
through their website so passengers can go straight to the Airport immigration counter. It is
obvious that the automation of the ticketing process will save Biman on time, human

resources expenses and efficient tracking system to prevent misuse of papers with more
effectiveness.
The Prime Minister has told the present Biman management what is needed for Biman to
improve. She outlined all important areas in brief. They are as follows: i) passenger handling
on ground and in air, ii) introduction of Internet ticket booking, iii) on-time service. That is
the availability of the aircraft, IV) old aircraft either converted to carry cargo or used for Hajj
& chartered operations for recovery of loss V) curb corruption in the organization.

3.8

Services

Hajj-flight:In addition to normal passenger the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca for
theHajj is undertaken by thousands of Bangladeshs predominantly Muslim population.
Biman carries a loin portion of these pilgrims. In 2002, the government os pened up the
service to private operator Air Bangladseh. The initial private flights were plagued with
delays, with both outgoing and return flights postponed for as long as nine days, which
caused the Bangladesh government to return the Hajj flights monopoly to Biman. In June
2007, the caretaker government approved a three year Hajj policy to alleviate the problems
encountered during the previous two years. Hajj flights of Biman used to continued from
Bangladsehs two other international airports, Shah Amanat International Airport and Osmani
International Airport.
Biman Cargo:Biman also operates a cargo service using the cargo holds of its
passengeraircraft to ship freight to international destinations. It has established a Cargo
Village at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport where the cargo is packaged and labeled
before being loaded onto its aircraft. While the air cargo industry in Bangladesh grew by
16.5%(fiscal 2008-09).Bimans acrgo operations remained stagnant when private operators
such as Bismillah Airlines ,Best Aviation and Air Bangladesh witnessed a 108%growth from
the previous year. The private operators increased their share of the cargo market by 10.6%
and were responsible for handling 24% of the total 99,000 tons of cargo at the expense of
both Biman and foreign airlines which saw a reduction in their shares by 4.6% and 6%
respectively. Foreign airlines handled 47% of the total cargo with Bismillah Air taking on the
remaining 29%.

Biman Maintenance:

The Biman maintenance and Engineering Department is well organized and staffed with
qualified licensed personnel.
The Airlines is capable of heavy aircraft maintenance.Complete aircraft paint facilities are
aloso available and functioning. Biman has own Engineering Hanger Complex. Interior
maintenance including full cabin, galley and lavatory replacement is also available. The
maintenance facility has an upholstery repair shop including the ability to rebuild cabin seats.
Biman also has avionic and instrument repair capability. Biman maintenance saves the cost of
Biman as well as earn a huge money by providing the maintenance and repairing service to
the other foreign and local airlines and utilizes this sector to earn a lot of money.
BATC:
Bangladesh airlines training centre BATC used to train a large number of newly recruited as
well as the existing employees of Biman for the skill development of their manpower. BATC
trains not only the staffs of Biman but also the higher officials of some other local and foreign
airlines and earns money from this program.

Foreign Flight Handling Service:

Foreign flight handling services is provided to the foreign airlines operating to Bangladesh
which can be considered as a non-core business of Biman.It is one of the major sources of
income of Biman Bangladesh airlines. Foreign flight handling service includes the services of
unloading the foreign airlines passengers from the aircraft, receiving luggages from the
aircraft and handed those over to the respective passengers, unloading the cargo from aircraft
and handed those over to the concerned cargo section etc. Ramp support and different type of
technical supports are also provides by Biman Bangladesh Airlines as and when required to
the foreign airlines.

Price:
Air fare pricing is a complicated job .Being the member of IATA airlines has to follow the
IATA pricing rules. IATA Tariff Coordinating Conference is the regulatory body of the Air
Tariff worldwide both Passenger fare and cargo rate .It introduces all tariff related rules
regulations for the commercial air transport through resolutions passed time to time. The
IATA tariff Committee publishes Normal and special fares through Air Tariff Publications. As
the Airline market is very competitive and perishable the carriers can not depend on the IATA
published fares. They widely uses private fares which are very low than the fares of IATA.

It is very important to fix the appropriate fare in line with market demand. A carriers may fail
to achieve goal due to correct pricing even it fulfill all sorts of standard service
requirement for the customers. So the airline pricing department must be manned with the
experienced pricing specialists .The name of Biman pricing department is Tariff and IATA
affairs. It basically deals with price fixing. It has the right to raise or reduce the fare of
passengers as well as cargo carriage based on different kind of situation, demand etc. Not
only fare for passenger or cargo but also the rate for carrying stretcher , wheel chair and
excess baggage are being fixed by the tariff and pricing section of Biman.

Factors behind fluctuating price:

RBD Maintenance:

RBD or Reservation Booking Designator is nothing but nesting or allotted of seats in

different fare levels in the same compartment in order to maximize revenue. This is also
referred as fare mix. There are 26 RBDs can be used in a flight, like
J,D,C,A,P,R,Y,S,M,Q,T,N,L,H,O,K,U,G etc. RBD maintenance is a kind of business policy
which is taken by Biman for maximizing their profit.

Seasonal factors (High time/Low time):

Demand of air space not remains same throughout the whole year. Sometimes demand
becomes very high and sometimes demand becomes very low based on different seasons. For
an example: Since most of the target passengers of Biman are ethnic passengers or labor
class. So during different type of occasion like Eid season the flow of passengers becomes
very high and demands for air space increases. Sequentially the price of Air ticket increases
in this situation. So, different seasons play vital role for the fluctuation of the price of Air
tickets.

Competitors fare fixation:

Although IATA (International Air Travels Association) has published a fixed fare for all the
airlines, each and every airlines fixes its own fare through making some manipulation into its
published fare to survive within the excessive competition among the Airlines. Mainly Biman
Bangladesh Airlines used to fix its fare by comparing the fare fixation of other local and
International airlines to become forwarded within the excessive completion of current
Aviation market. So the fluctuation of the Fare of Biman Bangladesh Airlines sometimes
depends on the competitors fare fixation rather not basically depend on the cost coverage.

STC decision:

STC (Special Tariff Committee) of Biman plays a vital role for establishing pricing
policyand fixing special fares, cargo rates and related charges throughout the network. It has
the special right to take the decision of reducing or raising the fare of air ticket during the
crisis period or in different season based on the situations

Promotional fare:

Biman used to offer different type of discount on its fare which is considered as promotional
fare during launching flights in a new route for the market penetration. For example: When
they launch their flight in the rout Dhaka-Bahrain, they offered 20% commission for selling
Biman ticket to is GSA (General Sales Agent).So that the Agency could also share that
discount with the ultimate passengers of Biman for traveling that new route and get them
benefited.
Special Tariff Committee:
Biman has constituted a Special Tariff Committee (STC) for the purpose of establishing
pricing policy and fixing special fares, cargo rates and related charges throughout the
network.
The Director Marketing & Sales is the chairman of STC where the Manager tariff acts
as the member secretary. The STC is constituted with some other members from
different departments.
The formation and functions of the committee are as under:
a. Director Marketing & Sales

Chairman

b. General Manager Marketing/Sales

Member

c. Controller off Accounts

Member

d. D.G.M Internal Audit

Member

e. D.G.M Sales

Member

f. Manager Tariff & IATA Affairs

Member Secretary

E-ticketing:

Electronic ticketing is a method to document the sale and track usage of passengers
transportation without requiring the issuance of paper value documents .The electronic tickets
is used in exactly the same way as a paper .However instead of processing a paper document,
all the data relating to the passengers itineraryfare, class,payment and TFCs ,etc is stored in
an ET record in the database of the validating carrier. Tariff, pricing & E-ticketing section of
Biman deals with the E-ticketing . Biman Bangladesh Airlines is going to initiate the Est

Ticketing system through the IBE (Internet Booking Engine) system from the 1 November
through which passengers will be able to create the online ticket Booking by sitting at home
but for making the purchase they have to go to the sales outlet or the sale counters of Biman.
Finally for the direct selling of E-ticket Biman is going to develop the online ticket selling
st

program with the help of internet through the credit or debit card system from the 1 January
of 2011.The Electronic Ticketing will hopefully enables faster

Promotion:
Biman is far away from modern promotional activities. It has been coming up with all
traditional promotional activities. It has very poor budget on publicity and advertising. It has
only some publicity campaign through sports sponsorship. But these are not sufficient. It has
some yearly incentive plan for the agents. But the actual benefits of this incentive does not
reach to the original customer. So Biman should restructure its promotional activities in the
line with modern concept as under:

Chapter # 4 Analysis & Findings

4.1

GAP Analysis

Gap analyses of each dimension are given below:

4.1 GAP Analysis

Gap analyses of each dimension are given below:
Reliability

SL

1
2
3
4
5

Status

Rel1
Rel2
Rel3
Rel4
Rel5

Mean
Expectat

Perceptio

ion
3.3265

n
3.0000

3.3469

3.0200

3.2449

2.8200

3.3265

2.7800

3.0816

2.7400

T-

P-

Decisio

value

value

1.548

0.125

Significa

0.130

nt
Significa

.042

nt
Insignifica

0.015

nt
Insignifica

0.125

nt
Significa

1.527
2.057
2.472
1.546

nt
In reliability dimension we see that, in first, second and fifth statements
have deviation between expectation and perception. The significance
level are 0.125, 0.130 and 0.125.

Responsiveness

SL

Status

Mean
Expectati

Percepti

T-

P-

Decisio

value

value

Res1

on
3.4286

on
2.9000

2.359

0.020

Insignifica

Res2

3.5918

3.0000

2.694

0.008

nt
Insignifica

Res3

3.4286

2.7400

3.085

0.003

nt
Insignifica

Res4

3.4898

2.7800

3.164

0.002

nt
Insignifica
nt

In responsiveness dimensions, there are no deviation between expectation

and perception.

Assurance

SL

Status

Mean
Expectati

Percepti

T-

P-

Decisio

value

value

Ass1

on
3.4490

on
2.9800

2.200

0.030

Insignifica

Ass2

3.3469

2.8200

2.210

0.029

nt
Insignifica

Ass3

3.0816

2.6200

2.123

0.036

nt
Insignifica

Ass4

3.5510

3.0200

2.404

0.018

nt
Insignifica
nt

In assurance dimensions, there are no deviation between expectation and

perception.

Empathy

SL

1
2

Status

Emp1
Emp2

Mean
Expectati

Percepti

on
3.3061

on
2.7400

3.4082

2.8600

T-

P-

Decisio

value

value

2.378

0.019

Insignifica

0.009

nt
Insignifica

2.661

Emp3

3.3265

2.7400

2.840

0.005

nt
Insignifica

Emp4

4.0408

2.8400

1.380

0.171

nt
significa

Emp5

3.3061

2.7000

2.576

0.012

nt
Insignifica
nt

In empathy dimension we see that, in fourth statement has deviation

between expectation and perception. The significance level is 0.171

Tangibles

SL

1
2
3
4

Status

Tan1
Tan2
Tan3
Tan4

Mean
Expectati

Percepti

on
3.0816

on
2.5000

2.9796
3.1633
3.2857

2.7200
2.7200
2.8600

T-

P-

Decisio

value

value

2.424

0.017

Insignifica

0.254

nt
significa

0.031

nt
Insignifica

0.054

nt
significa

1.147
2.185
1.953

nt

In reliability dimension we see that, in second and fourth statements have

deviation between expectation and perception. The significance level are
0.254 and 0.054.

GAP Analysis

Dimension

Expectation

Perception

GAP

Reliability
Responsivenes

3.2516

2.92

0.3316

4.0408
3.13265

2.8400
2.7900

1.2008
0.34265

s
Assurance
Empathy
Tangible

We have calculated the Gap by finding the differences between the

Service Perception and Service Expectation. The following table is given
with the result of all dimensions and the Gap.In the GAP analysis, we see that the
highest gap is 1.2008 in empathy dimensions. So, Biman Bangladesh has to do a lot of works
and improvements in this area. In tangible dimension, the gap is 0.34265 means the
difference isnt high but Biman Bangladesh need to take some extra care in this area. The
same suggestion is applicable for reliability also. This is a happy news for the management of
Biman Bangladesh Airlines is that there has no variation between expectation and perception
in responsiveness and assurance.

4.2 Correlation
Responsiveness, Assurance and Tangible has no relationship with Reliability. Assurance and
Tangible has no relationship with Responsiveness. Empathy and Assurance has no corelation.

Similarly, Tangible and Empathy has no correlation. On the other hand,

Responsiveness and Empathy has the strong relationship as 0.008 but it is very little compare
to the generalized form.

Reliability

Reliabi
lity
1.000

Responsiv
eness

Assura
nce

Empa
thy

Responsiv

0.000

1.000

eness
Assurance

0.000

0.000

1.000

Empathy

0.003

0.008

0.000

1.000

Tangible

0.000

0.000

0.002

0.000

Tangi
ble

1.000

4.3

Regression analysis

Reliability
.

Significant
Insignifican
t

Responsiv
e

Tangibility

Satisfacti
..
on

Assurance

Empath
y

Here, we see that, only tangibility has no relation with the customer satisfaction. Its value is
only 0.004. On the other hand, all four dimensions such as reliability, responsiveness,
empathy and assurance have significant level of relation with customer satisfaction. So, these
parts are take the main limelight and dominant customer as they set the consumer mind
satisfactory in perceived and satisfy levels. Their values are chronologically 0.428, 0.094,
0.793, 0.885 and 0.817 for Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy.

Chapter # 5 Recommendation & Conclusion

5.1

Recommendation

In our findings, we recommend to do necessary steps to Biman

Bangladesh Airlines.

The highest gap is in Empathy dimension. It means the passengers

of Biman Bangladesh Airlines expect more but they perceived very
little. It is very alarming for the management. The management
must take some necessary steps to solve the problem.
From regression analysis, we found that only tangibility has not
relation or not significant to satisfy the customers. It also indicate to
give more concentration in this area.
There other areas with variances but Biman Bangladesh must be
look here that no one can turn into the big portion of the pie

5.2 Conclusion
We analyze the gap between expectation and perception based on Reliability,
Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, and Tangible. Than we conduct t-test and p-test from
that we know the gap between the customers expectation and perception under each
dimension mentioned above. At last, we have done regression and correlation analysis to
know the effect of each dimension over another and ultimately over customer satisfaction.
After completing necessary calculation, we find out some critical result. The gap analysis
shows us empathy is one of the most important sector that Bangladesh Air Lines must be
concentrate if they grab the maximum share in the local market. We also give some
recommendation that may help to find out the gap and help to solve it within the possible
quickest times

Chapter # 6
6.1

Reference

Books
1.

Boyd Harper W., Westfall Jr. Ralph and Stasch Stanley F. Marketing research. USA:

Richard D. Irwin, Inc. Seventh edition.2002.

Periodicals and Journals

Handbook, Booklets, Leaflets

1. Diganto, Biman Bangladesh Airlines In-flight Magazine, 43.

Websites
www.bimanair.com
www.airlinequality.com/index.htm
http://www.trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/index.htm
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2010/03/30/96310.html

http://www.ti-bangladesh.org/research/EX_Summary_Biman_Eng.pdf
www.marketingmasters.co.uk/geoff/marketing research handout.doc
www.google.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.ask.com
https://www.biman-airlines.com/
6.2

Appendix

The Question paper attached with the report.