BIMAN Bangladesh Airlines is looking for a Gulf-based or South-east Asia-based airline investor and partner after the government cleared the launch of its maiden IPO offer.
The national carrier of Bangladesh has floated a tender to offload 61 per cent of the Bangladesh government’s stake to a strategic investor in a bid to save the airline from its current financial quagmire. The bid closes on October 11. The government will retain a 30 per cent minority stake and nine per cent will be reserved for Biman employees.
Kevin John Steele, newly appointed managing director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said: “We are open to strategic partnership with any dependable airline partner based in the Gulf or South-east Asian nations or India. We are open to a joint venture. New Delhi is very important for our future growth and is likely to become a hub for us.”
Biman managed to reduce its losses from US$75 million in 2011 to US$25 million in 2012, and hopes to bring the losses further down to US$10 million by 2H2014.
Currently, it has eight aircraft and expects to increase it to 18 by 2015. It expects to induct more Boeing 777s and has ordered six 787 Dreamliners to be delivered in 2018.
The 34-year old carrier, faced with the threat of an indefinite employee strike with its failure to pay wages, has been bailed out temporarily by the government.
Mozzamat Nazmanara Khanum, deputy secretary of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, said: “We have introduced visa-on-arrival for several countries to augment inbound tourism and business travel. Biman’s revival will catalyse tourism growth.”
International inbound arrivals to Bangladesh grew from 3.2 million in 2005 to six million in 2012.
