Shah Alam Nur :
Biman Bangladesh Airlines suffered a loss of Tk 1.99 billion in the last fiscal.
According to Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, the Biman Bangladesh Airline incurred a loss of Tk 13.26 billion in the last five years.
The year wise figures are Tk 1.99 billion in 2014-15, Tk 1.18 billion in 2013-14, Tk 1.91 billion in 2012-13, Tk 5.94 billion in 2011-12 and Tk 2.24 billion in 2010-11 fiscal.
It is learnt that, of the 29 international routes, at least nine are now incurring losses.
The routes include Dhaka- Kolkata, Delhi, Yangon, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Rome, Frankfurt and London due to shortage of passengers.
The profitable routes are Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur, Katmandu, Doha, Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah and Damman.
“Biman is counting losses on all the potential routes due to sub-standard services,” an official of Biman told The New Nation on Wednesday.
He said the loss of Biman has been increasing due to corruption and irregularity.
He said, no positive outcome will be seen if the current board of directors and managing committee exists.
According to information available with Biman’s accounts department, the airlines carrying capacity has dropped by 19 per cent, even after addition of six planes.
Source said, currently 10 aircraft of Biman are operating flights on 19 international routes.He said, Biman is spending 49 per cent of its total expenditure on buying fuel at high rates, which no private airline does.
Former Civil Aviation minister Faruk Khan said the loss of Biman has declined compared with previous years. All the non-profitable routes should be stopped to check the loss.
He said, there is allegation that many passengers do not get the ticket of Biman when they want. But Biman is running towards many international routes with empty seats.
