Biman Bangladesh Airlines earned Tk 1.51 billion in profit for the third consecutive year during the fiscal year 2016-17 although its net profit and cargo handling dropped for paying deferred tax and cargo restriction by the United Kingdom.
According to a press release of Biman issued on Wednesday, the profit earned during the last fiscal year was Tk 240 million more than that earned in the fiscal year 2015-16 (FY16).
But net profit of the national flag carrier was only Tk 470 million during the last fiscal year against Tk 2.35 billion in FY16 and Tk 2.34 billion in FY 2014-15.
However, total profit of the national carrier stood at Tk 6.06 billion, as disclosed in the financial statement of the state-owned airlines.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines approved the financial statement of FY17 in its 10th annual general meeting held at its headquarters Balaka on Tuesday, with its Chairman Mohammad Enamul Bari in the chair.
The meeting considered deposition of Tk 3.81 billion in revenue to the public exchequer amid challenges of global oil price hike, cargo restriction imposed by the United Kingdom and a competitive Asian aviation market, which is a significant achievement for the state-owned airlines.
The meeting observed that the Biman's achievement is related to the measures taken during the last one year to introduce new aircraft including Boeings for increasing the numbers of flights on both domestic and international routes and new flight destination and increase in cargo handling during the last few years.
The airlines carried 2.35 million passengers during FY17 against 2.31 million in the previous fiscal year.
In the FY15, Biman handled 2.2 million passengers. During the last three years, number of passengers of Biman increased by 3.31 million.
The state-owned airlines handled 33,542 tonnes of cargo during the last financial year against 40,931 tonnes in the previous year.
smunima@yahoo.com