Biman B'desh suffers losses over leased Boeings

Dhaka, Oct 5 Biman Bangladesh has suffered losses worth Tk 11 billion ($129 million) over two Boeing 777-200 aircraft leased from Egypt five years ago, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.

This was revealed on Sunday in a meeting document of the Ministry's parliamentary committee, reports bdnews24.

The meeting held last month heard that the revenue made from the two aircraft totalled Tk 22 billion against expenditures running up to Tk 33 billion.

For these planes, the flag carrier had been giving subsidies of Tk 110 million per month before completing the payment in March.

In the meeting, Md Mohibul Haque, senior secretary to the Ministry, said the airline was keen to put a halt on leasing jets and that three new aircraft were expected to arrive this year.

Among them, two would be added to Biman's fleet this year and the other would join the fleet next year. Each of these aircraft cost $24 million, Mohibul added.

The committee had previously expressed its reservations about leasing the two aircraft, which the Biman leased from Egypt Air on a five-year term, bdnews24 reported.

One of the planes was put in Biman operations in March 2014 while the other was incorporated to the fleet two months later.

( With inputs from IANS )