Biman ahead of target to be fully profitable by FY \\\'15

Biman is ahead of its target to be fully profitable by the fiscal year 2014-15, said Kevin John Steele, the Managing Director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines on completion of his one year with the state-owned airline.
The other successes Biman has achieved by way of the changes during his tenure are schedule punctuality, resumption of closed routes, introduction of new products and ensuring fuel efficiency.
"In the fiscal year (FY) 2011-`12, Biman lost USD 75 million. Un-audited results for FY 2012-`13 indicate a loss of USD 25 million. The target set for FY 2013-`14 is a small amount of loss worth around USD 12 million. But results from the July-September 2013 period were very encouraging, and we are currently ahead of that target," Mr Steele said.
Biman continues to invest in new aircraft, new routes, new customer-oriented products and services and ensures quality and training of its staff in order to make Biman a profitable airline.
About punctuality, the Bimam MD said, "I am ashamed to admit that in 2012, our on-time punctuality was under 30 per cent. We have now seen a dramatic improvement, and to date we averaged between 65 per cent and 70 per cent of schedule on time."
But that is still not nearly good enough, as most good European airlines achieve 75 per cent-80 per cent on-time schedule, he said.
Biman focused on re-launching flights on different closed routes during the last one year, which included Hong Kong, Yangon and Delhi. Kevin Steele said the main expansion of the network would materialise in April, 2014 when 2 brand new B777-300ER aircraft join the fleet.
About re-launching domestic flights, Mr Steele expressed his frustration saying: "We hope to have good news in the coming days, and to be able to announce a starting date of domestic flights shortly."
In the last one-year period, Biman introduced a new website, a new in-flight magazine, a completely new 'Duty Free' product, and has just launched the world class Frequent Flyer Programme.
Earlier, Biman used to have 50 passengers on waiting list on each of its flight, and for every waiting-list passenger, the airline had to pay the software company GDS (Global Distribution Company) USD 7.
After introducing some changes, the number of waiting-list passengers dropped to 15 in place of 50, which has saved Biman USD 1.5 million per year.
Kevin Steele made another 'savings' worth USD 2 million a year by signing an agreement with technology company SITA that had reduced Biman's communication cost. SITA will upgrade Biman's global network and operational messaging, and harness the power of the Air Transport Industry (ATI) Cloud to transform its workspace, helping the airline achieve substantial savings.