The government undertook various plans over the last five years to make Bangladesh Biman as more profitable airlines, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, reports BSS. “The national flag career made a profit of Taka 272.23 crore in the 2014-15 fiscal year.  The government took various steps over the last five years to make Bangladesh Biman as a more profitable organization,” the minister said in reply to a Jatiya Party lawmaker Md Nurul Islam Omar (Bogra-6).
Menon said the Biman’s fleet has been modernized by phasing out its old F-28/DC 10-30 aircraft and inducting four new generation 777-300 aircraft and two 737-800 aircraft of Boeing Company in the fleet. As a result, he said, Biman’s, maintenance, fuel and repair cost has been declined to a great extent.
The minister said two 777-200 ER aircraft have been taken on lease in 2014 for five years to raise capacity of the Biman’s fleet. Besides, he said, two DASH-8Q 400 aircraft have been taken on lease in April 2015 for operating domestic flights. As a result, the capacity for ferrying passengers has gone up, he added. Menon also informed that the weekly flight frequency in Kuala Lumpur, Kolkata, Bangkok, Yangon, Jeddah, Dammam, Kuwait and London has been increased.
Besides, he said, the flight operations in Rome and Frankfurt have been suspended considering those as non-profitable routes.
The minister said efforts have been made to boost Biman’s revenue income by implementing “revenue management” and “revenue integrity system”, while steps have been taken to reduce Global Distribution System (GDS) cost in the process for increasing online sales.