Biman must give precedence to commercial interest to curb its losses, as the airline continues to bleed despite procuring four new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in the last couple of years, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.

The national carrier incurred a loss of around Tk 162 crore in the nine months to March, inside sources of the airline said. The loss amounted toTk 148 crore in the first eight months of the year. Kazi Wahidul Alam, an aviation analyst, said Biman is suffering losses as it does not always operate commercially despite being a commercial institution.

Biman has recently resumed flights on some loss-making routes without considering commercial viability, which is not the manner of a for-profit organisation, said Alam, ed itor of Bangladesh Monitor.

"Biman will make losses if it operates on the Dhaka-New York route with current fares, but is still trying to do so under political considerations."