Staff Reporter :
Although the national flag carrier Bangladesh Biman has made a profit of Tk 276 crore in the 2015-2016 fiscal, the amount is Tk 48 crore less than the previous year 2014-15 showing a downtrend in its overall income.
The number of passengers of Biman, however, has increased in the meantime, said a press release issued by the Biman on Saturday.
The authorities made the disclosure at a time, when the Biman has been facing widespread criticism at home and abroad for its mismanagement.
Particularly, nine Biman engineers are now in jail in connection with the emergency landing of Prime Minister’s flight in Turkmenistan in November last year.
Besides, the Biman fights are frequently used for carrying smuggled Gold and other contraband items, which is also a major concern for the government high-ups.
Meanwhile, the Biman authorities have claimed that the organization recently is showing profiting trend for the two consecutive years. In two years, it made a total profit of Tk 600 crore.
The organization for the first time saw profit for the two successive years after it was turned into a company in 2007.
After that, each and every year the organization had to face a large amount of loss. The losing trend continued for five years. At last, it managed to make a profit in 2014-15 fiscal year.
And interestingly, the Biman got Tk 48 crore less in its profit book in the following year [2015-16]. In the same year, the organization paid revenue tax of Tk 310 crore to the government.
According to press release, the Biman carried 23 lakh 18 thousand passengers in 2015-16 fiscal while the number was 20 lakh 20 thousand in the previous year. But the amount of cargo carried by the Biman is 7 percent less than the previous year.
Clarifying the reasons behind the deduction in profit amount, the authorities have said that the overall goods carrying were reduced in the said fiscal due to cargo ban imposed by the United Kingdom. Another reason was price hike of aviation jet fuel in the international market.
Apart from its own aircraft, the Biman had handled 18, 628 flights of 26 foreign airlines at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport during the said fiscal. Now, there are four brand new Boeings 777-300ER and two latest model 737-800 Boeings in the fleet of the Biman.
Besides, the Biman will also get four sophisticated Boeing Dreamliner 787 in 2018-19 fiscal year, according to officials.
