In an attempt to cut down on recurring losses, Biman Bangladesh Airlines is set to suspend its flights on the Dhaka-Rome route from tomorrow and start focusing instead on new routes to China and the Far East.
The announcement, made by Biman’s new Chief Executive Officer Kyle Haywood, came only six months after Biman suspended its flights to Frankfurt, meaning that from now on Biman’s only footprint in Europe would be in London.
“Dhaka-Rome flights caused around $10 million in losses and that is why we need to revise our plan and suspend it immediately,” Haywood told journalists yesterday in his first meeting with the press since joining Biman on January 5.
Along with suspending the Rome flights, Biman would scrutinise its loss-making routes and try to further minimise losses by planning new routes to China and Far East countries, the national flag carrier’s CEO said.
Earlier, Biman had made a plan to offer new flights to Tokyo, Kunming, Guangzhou, Colombo and Male; but the plan was never realised.
On another note, Haywood said he was trying to change the ticket booking system for Biman as flights often had empty seats despite being fully booked.
“In my three months with Biman, I found that lots of passengers booked seats; but before flying they changed it which also deprived the real passengers and caused losses to Biman. We have noticed the issue and will change the process,” said the Biman CEO. He, however, did not mention any specific plan on this regard.
Asked when the state-owned carrier might see profit again, the Biman boss refused to set any specific time limit to reach the target.
However, Haywood said Biman was planning to increase its cargo service to secure 15% revenue increase compared to last year.
During the 2013-14 fiscal year, Biman lost Tk210 crore; the flag carrier’s losses were Tk191.6 crore during FY2012-13 and Tk594.2 crore in FY 2011-12.
Haywood said Biman’s average fleet age was currently eleven years, which would be brought down to eight years within a short time.
“When any carrier’s average fleet age is longer, it is a challenge for them to make it profitable,” said the CEO, claiming that corruption was not the big problem for Biman.
Haywood added that he has taken lots of tough decisions over the last three months to make Biman a passenger-friendly operator.
“Considering passenger satisfaction, we issued budget tickets and within this time [since January] passenger presence and flights timeliness was fantastic,” said the CEO.
He said that Biman’s new plans would come to light after July, adding that they had no plan for launching any budget service.
