Myanmar National Airlines (MNA), the country’s flag carrier, is in its fifth year of losses since corporatisation and its move into international operations, smartaviation-apac.com, reported.

The national assembly’s Joint Public Accounts Committee says the losses have amounted to over 21 billion Myanmar kyat (US$13.7 million) since the start of 2016, despite the airline growing revenue consistently over the same period.

This is due to higher maintenance and employee costs, but also interest on loans taken out to purchase replacements for its older Fokker and ATR aircraft, it adds.

U Aung Min, the committee’s deputy chair, says to become profitable, MNA will need to restructure and reduce its cost base, but also invest more in staff. He says when the airline was first established, there was no aim to be profitable because it was operating routes as a public service.