Biman turns into public limited company

Dhaka, July 12 (bdnews24.com) – President Iajuddin Ahmed has approved an ordinance to convert Biman Bangladesh Airlines into a public limited company, according to a government circular, which was available Thursday.

The law ministry Wednesday published the amended law, Bangladesh Biman Corporation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007 that will come into immediate effect.

Biman's managing director MA Momen told bdnews24.com the government would own entire ownership of the company.

"People won't buy shares until it becomes a profitable company and that's why we aren't going to float its shares for public for now," Momen said.

Biman runs Tk 2,000 crore in debt, which he said the government would shoulder.

The interim government decided to make the airliner a public limited company in line with the recommendations of a committee formed in March to find out how to make it a profit-making company.

The committee also recommended to halve the workforce from 4,800.

In June, the authorities took up a so-called golden handshake programme and 1,863 employees retired.

Biman in the last fiscal year recorded Tk 828 crore in losses, up from about Tk 283 crore a year ago.

Biman owes about Tk 564 crore to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation in bills until Dec 31.

Biman scrapped flights to Tokyo, New York, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt and Mumbai last year to reduce losses. It now operates flights to only 20 oversees and three domestic destinations.

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