The fate of local private airline company United Airways remains uncertain as talks among authorities concerned failed to come up with a solution for the company that suspended operations yesterday because of a “financial crisis.”
“We [CAAB] have discussed about the issue with them [United Airways]. But as the civil aviation minister, secretary, and even the CAAB chairman are out of the country, we could not find a solution,” Group Captain SM Nazmul Anam, director (flight safety and regulation) of Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh (CAAB), told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
Hundreds of people, who were scheduled to fly on United Airways flights to local and international destinations, faced sufferings at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport because of the sudden cancellation of their flights. Some officials of the private airways also had to flee from the airport after facing passengers' agitation, (CAAB) sources said.
On Wednesday, the airline announced that it would indefinitely suspend its operation for financial reasons.
A senior United Airways official told the Dhaka Tribune that the airline did not even have any money to buy fuel for its airplanes or arrange in-flight food.
Meanwhile, following the announcement, share prices of the airline has dropped by 7.63%. At the closure of trading at Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday, the market price of each United Airways share stood at Tk10.90, which was Tk11.80 at the end of trading on Wednesday.
The suspension of United Airways came only days after changes were made to its top management.
On Monday, Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury – who had served the airline as its chairman and managing director since its inception in 2007 – stepped down from his post. Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman filled in the office of the chairman, while Shahinoor Alam and Ferdous Imam took on the roles of acting managing director and acting chief executive officer respectively, according to a posting on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website.
Senior officials of the airline claimed that flight operations suffered as there was no active top management in the past two days; as a result, flights for Dhaka-Doha-Muscat, Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur and four local flights had to be cancelled.
During its seven years of operations, United Airways operated 48,000 flights, carried 20 lakh passengers and 5,000 tonnes of cargo. As of 2014, it employs over 1000 people and has a fleet of 11 aircrafts. In the fiscal year 2012-13, United Airways made profits of Tk115.4 crore.
The airline operated domestic flights to Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Cox's Bazar, Barisal, Rajshahi, Saidpur and Ishwardi. On international routes, it flew to London, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Jeddah, Bangkok, Muscat and Singapore.