Biman's dismal performance irks Civil Aviation Minister Menon

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon has expressed frustration over the current condition of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

"It's better to talk less about Biman," the minister said in parliament on Wednesday during a discussion on the proposed budget for fiscal 2017-18.

He said the national flag carrier was transformed into a public limited company in 2007 but it still does not have the necessary accountability and workforce.

"That's why a huge number of complaints about Biman are coming to parliament," the minister said.

After becoming a company, Biman posted around Tk 52 million profit in 2007-08 and Tk 155.7 million in 2008-09.

It returned to loss, which continued for the next five years and amounted to over Tk 14.35 billion.

It turned around in fiscal 2014-15, with profit crossing Tk 2.72 billion.

"We have made Biman services essential. A committee has been formed to make recommendations for complete overhaul. Those will be sent to the prime minister and the final decision will be taken later," the minister said.

Menon added that new planes were added to the Biman fleet as part of the government's effort to strengthen the airliner. "Still, complaints abound." 

Four Boeing-787 Dreamliners will join the Biman fleet in 2018 and 2019.

The process to buy three Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 planes from Canada is under way to increase the number of local flights.

Biman has four Boeing 777-300ERs and two Boeing 737-800s now. It also operates flights with six leased aircraft.

Speaking on the budget, Workers Party chief Menon slated Finance Minister AMA Muhith for his decision to start collecting 15 percent VAT from 2017-18.

"We can't bring back the undisclosed smuggled money, which is equal to the budget of a year. We are now launching a festival of VAT to implement the budget. I want to know how it happened," he said.

"The finance minister doesn't know what will happen once the 15 percent VAT is implemented. It will hit the lower middle class," said Menon seeking Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's intervention.

He also demanded withdrawal of the extra excise duty on bank accounts. "Renaming the duty won't be enough."