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Biman expects major drop in loss in FY08

Sohel Parvez
Biman Bangladesh Airlines' loss is likely to be over six times lower than provisional estimates of about Tk 549 crore in 2007-08, officials familiar with the matter said.
The national carrier now hopes that its loss during the last fiscal year (FY) will stand at about Tk 80 crore from actual loss of about Tk 274 crore in the FY 2006-07. Its provisional loss was estimated to be at Tk 526 crore for FY07.
Officials said improvement in efficiency’ and stoppage of pilferage has contributed to die reduction in losses over the past two years. Trimming of loss making flights also brought about a positive impact on the airlines overall earnings, they added.
"We have improved our efficiency by removing mismanagement. We have also reduced the number of our loss making flights over the last two years," said Muhammad Tahir Husain Director, Finance, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, yesterday.
The official said the airline is yet to finalise the actual amount of losses but expects that it will be about Tk 80 crore.
The 11-fleet carrier, which
sealed a deal with US plane maker Boeing to procure 10 aircraft last month, has slashed its actual loss forecast just a year after it posted a record loss ofTk454 crore for FY2005-06
Mismanagement, corrup tion and the fuel-guzzling decade old aircraft led Biman to incur such losses despite revenues hitting the highest at Tk 2,653 core for that particular year, industry people said.
In FY 2007, the carriers' total revenues stood at aboutTk 2,463 crore against expenses of around Tk2,737 crore, officials said.
The government turned the ailing Biman into a public limited company in July last year to give it a fresh lease on life. Till date, it has been freed of liabilities against its name of overTk 1,700 crore from the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and the Civil Aviation Authority.
Additionally, its move to retrench over 1800 employees has facilitated a drop in overall operating expenses.
Officials said the carrier cut its operations to eight international destinations amid aircraft shortages and losses since 2006, in an aim to recover from the beleaguered situation. The airline now operates flights to 18 international destinations.
"Apart from stopping pilferage, our extra flights to certain destinations has also helped us increase overall revenue inflow," the official said.
Since last year, Biman operated about 215 extra flights to Malaysia and 115 to one of its profitable destinations in the Middle East, namely Dubai, to ease the pressures of the outbound Bangladeshi workers.
Despite additional earnings
from these flights, rising fuel costs in the global market has placed increased pressures on the airline. The national carrier, along with four local private airlines, nowcounts $1.25 for a litre of fuel, which rose two times since early this year.
“The increase in fuel price has cost us an additional Tk 250 crore," Tahir said but added that Biman has not been able to raise its fares due
to competition from the Middle-eastern airlines that usually purchase fuel at reasonable rates from their own countries.
"We had a profit of over Tk 100 core at the end of December last year. But increasing fuel costs have put us on the back foot," he said.
Analysts however said a reduction of losses by cutting
down operations, does not indicate an improvement in Biman's efficiency.
“Trimming of operations does not translate into an improvement in efficiency. Biman will be efficient when it will be able to reduce its losses by keeping operations intact and steady," said an aviation industry analyst Imran Asif.
sohel@thedailystar.net