Biman Bangladesh Airlines earns record revenue in FY 2023-2024

Biman Bangladesh Airlines held its annual general meeting today, where the financial statements for the previous fiscal year were presented.

Mr Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, Chairman of the Biman Board of Directors, chaired the meeting. All Biman Board of Directors members were present, along with representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry, the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet Division, and the Ministry of Commerce.

The national flag carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, has achieved a record revenue of 10,575 crore taka in the fiscal year 2023-2024, 9.50% higher than the previous year. In the same fiscal year, Biman earned an operational profit of 1556 crore taka, but after exchange losses and taxes, the net profit stood at 282 crore taka. The depreciation of the dollar hurt the net profit. Despite this, Biman has continued its profit-making streak for the fourth consecutive year after the COVID-19 pandemic and has achieved net profit in 8 out of the last 10 fiscal years.

In the fiscal year 2023-2024, Biman Bangladesh Airlines carried 3,363,685 passengers on 30 domestic and international destinations using 21 aircraft, which is almost 1 lakh more than the previous year. Additionally, it transported 43,044 metric tons of cargo, generating revenue of 637 crore taka, which is 60% more than the previous year. In the fiscal year 2023-2024, Biman handled 3,50,222 metric tons of cargo at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, which is 33.1% more than the previous year. Biman provided ground handling services to 32 foreign passenger airlines and 17 cargo airlines. Additionally, it provided ground handling services for various non-scheduled flights. In the fiscal year 2023-2024, Biman provided ground handling services to 66,32,760 passengers on 33,297 flights of foreign airlines.

It is noteworthy that Biman Bangladesh Airlines is a state-owned enterprise operating entirely on its revenue. In the last 53 years, Biman has not received any subsidies from the government. Biman Bangladesh Airlines has paid 104.79 crore US dollars (equivalent to 12,574.15 crore taka), including loans and interest, for the purchase of 13 new aircraft, with 1,274.48 crore taka paid only in the fiscal year 2023-2024. Additionally, in the fiscal year 2023-2024, Biman paid 926.68 crore taka to the government treasury through VAT and taxes. Furthermore, in the fiscal year 2023-2024, 24.51 crore taka worth of GSE equipment was purchased from its funds for the third terminal, and the process of buying more new equipment is underway.