Private carrier United Airways yesterday suspended its flight operations again for an indefinite period in the wake of insufficient aircraft and financial crisis.
They earlier suspended operations in mid-January as all the aircraft were grounded. The airliner resumed flights on February 24.
Farhad Hossain, director (marketing and sales), told the Dhaka Tribune that the flight operations were suspended as an ATR 72 aircraft grounded due to technical glitches. He declined to elaborate further.
The airline authorities yesterday sent emails to all domestic passengers who bought tickets in advance. “As per the management decision, due to unavoidable circumstances and tactical reason flight suspended till further advice,” reads the email.
After the fresh suspension, the shareholders are very much worried over security of their money, market insiders said.
United Airways is the first Bangladeshi airlines enlisted in the share market.
Its last international flight was operated by an MD 83 aircraft to Kuala Lumpur in mid-January which finally returned to Dhaka after one of its engines was shutdown at mid-air. The aircraft has since remained grounded due to proper maintenance.
According to the Dhaka Tribune investigation, all the aircraft of the airline are now grounded due to technical glitches.
Earlier, United Airways, which has achieved a number of awards since its inception in 2007, had to suspend operations for three days in September 2014 due to financial crisis. According to its website, the private carrier having 11 aircraft in its fleet operates flights to eight domestic and seven international destinations.
Moreover, it has not yet paid its dues of aeronautical and non-aeronautical charges worth over Tk125 crore.
The company's revenue earning also decreased drastically, as it could not operate most of the aircraft during the past one year. Most of the employees did not get their due salaries in the recent months, which compelled them to leave the organisation.
According to an official of the airlines, around 40% cockpit crews, cabin crews, engineers and officers of different departments have already left their jobs in the last couple of months.
Earlier, the airliner had bought some old aircraft at a cost of Tk400 crore, raised through offering rights shares to its shareholders.
Managing Director Tasbirul Ahmed Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune that they would revitalise the activities by investing hundreds of crores of taka. The management is planning to invest more money by raising TK400 crore again from the shareholders.