Flights are reduced to 2 routes to reduce losses
Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier, is incurring huge losses by running flights on international routes. Out of 23 international destinations, the company is reporting profit on 11 routes and loss on 12 routes.
Initiatives have been taken to increase flights on profitable routes and cut down on loss-making routes to reduce losses. As part of this, it has been decided to reduce one flight each to Narita in Japan and Manchester in the UK. On the other hand, another flight on the profitable Dhaka-Toronto route is being extended from October 31 due to passenger pressure.
Biman’s General Manager (Public Relations) Bosra Islam told Us Times that Narita in Japan and Manchester in the United Kingdom are suffering losses due to the passenger crisis. It has been decided to reduce one flight each on these two routes. Besides, steps are being taken to make the routes profitable. On the other hand, Dhaka-Toronto route is being increased by one flight a week due to good response from passengers.
According to Biman’s data, among the 23 international routes, 11 profitable routes are Dhaka to London, Toronto, Dubai, Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh, Dammam, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. And the 6 routes with the biggest losses are Manchester, Kuwait, Delhi, Kolkata, Guangzhou and Narita. Apart from this, efforts are being made to bring four routes profit by adjusting the weight of excess baggage. They are – Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Doha and Sharjah. Among them Dhaka-Manchester 1 crore 10 lakhs for every flight on the route.
In the last one year, Biman made a loss of Tk 187 crore on this route. In the last two months of January and February, the loss stood at Tk 172 crore. Losses per flight on Narita route are also around crores of rupees. However, the company did not provide any information about the Rome and Chennai route. As such, Biman is not seeing profit by flying on more than half of the routes. Apart from this, there are also questions about the annual profit and loss account of the airline.
Those concerned said that there are currently three flights a week between Japan’s Narita and UK’s Manchester routes. To reduce losses, only two flights a week will be operated from October 31 i.e. winter schedule. Apart from this, Indian flights have also been reduced due to the passenger crisis.
Biman claims that they have been profitable for several years. In the last financial year (2022-2023) it earned 10 thousand crore rupees. This year also (2023-2024) the revenue will be more than 10 thousand crore rupees. Those concerned said that the profit will be 1200 crores from the cargo alone.
According to Biman, the focus is on on-time performance, increase in revenue per passenger and cost reduction to make the company profitable. Besides, maximum utilization of the new aircraft taken from Boeing Company has been ensured. Apart from this, the organization claims that the quality of passenger service has also been visibly improved. Apart from that steps have been taken to make Doha, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Muscat routes profitable.
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Credit: Dainikamadersomoy
