Biman Airlines Face Abnormal Financial Risks

Biman will receive the first Dreamliner by August this year and the other three Dreamliners by next year.

National flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines is at risk of facing an abnormal level of financial crisis because of its increasing debt-to-equity ratio.

According to sources from Biman Bangladesh, the airlines debt-equity ratio has already increased to 4:1 from the average 1.5:1 ratio. There is speculation that the gap might increase further in the future.

Shakil Meraj, General Manager (Public Relations) said, Biman Bangladesh is set to receive four state-of-the-arts Dreamliner aircrafts from Boeing in the US. Since Biman took a huge bank loan to cover the costs, this is major cause behind the debt-equity abnormality.

He added, Currently, Biman has a loan of Tk4, 000 crore, which will reach the Tk9, 000 crore mark to pay the costs of buying the Boeing aircrafts.

Biman will receive the first Dreamliner by August this year and the other three Dreamliners by next year.

The airlines have made a deal to purchase 10 new aircrafts from Boeing at a cost of Tk20, 000 crore after it became a public limited company in 2007.

Jet fuel prices and lack of government support leading to monetary crisis

Other causes behind the looming financial crisis are the increasing price of jet fuel, and lack of financial support from the government, according to Biman Bangladesh sources.

Shakil complained that the airlines buy jet fuel at a 30% higher rate compared to other national flag carriers in the world.

He also added Not only that, jet fuel cost has been raised by 29% compared to the previous year.

Despite being a state carrier, Biman has to pay an equal rate of landing permit charges for using airports like other airlines to the Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh (CAAB).

Shakil said, In many countries, the national flag carriers get financial advantage from civil aviation authorities. Biman is deprived of such privileges here.

While, Md Salauddin, Deputy General Manager (Pricing and RMS) of Biman Bangladesh said, Biman recently went through a loss of Tk1 crore due to the depreciation of taka against US dollars.

Only government facilitation can reduce debt to equity gap

Biman Bangladesh airlines officials have claimed that if the government does not provide it with more financial support, the airlines will not be able to lower its debt-equity ratio.

Shakil said, Despite being a state-owned carrier, the government has never allocated anything for the airlines in the national budget. It is unbelievable that Biman has only been getting Tk150 crore as cash incentive from the government since 1972.

Shakil has appealed for a fixed allocation from the government treasury to decrease its debt to equity ratio.