United Airways, a local private airline company, is set to indefinitely suspend all its operational activities from today, apparently because of a “financial crisis.”
A group of senior officials made the announcement at a press conference at its Uttara head office yesterday, only days after major changes were brought to its top management.
The press conference was attended by United Airways officials including Aftab Ahmed, head of marketing; Captain M Elias, director of flight operations; Wing Commander (retired) Ferdous, director of administration; and Farhad, director of customer service.
“We found no one from the management to announce the carrier’s suspension of operations. We are not responsible for making the decision; but as the airline is facing a financial crisis it cannot operate from tomorrow [Thursday],” Wing Commander (retired) Ferdous, director of administration at United Airways, told the Dhaka Tribune over the phone later in the evening.
Ferdous added that airline did not even have any money to buy fuel for its airplanes, and arranging on-board food was also another problem.
United Airways Chairman Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman, acting managing director Shahinoor Alam, and acting chief executive officer Ferdous Imam were not present at the press conference.
Despite repeated attempts to reach Mahatabur over phone for his comments on the suspension of service, the chairman of the airline did not receive any calls from the Dhaka Tribune.
All three of these top officials took office after Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury – who had served the airline as its chairman and managing director since its inception in 2007 – stepped down from his post on Monday.
Although he cited personal reasons as the cause of the step down, insiders said Tasbirul resigned to avoid conflict with other board members who wanted to see a change in the leadership.
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.
In the fiscal year 2012-13, United Airways made profits of Tk115.4 crore. During its seven years of operations, it 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.
The airline operates domestic flights to Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Cox’s Bazar, Barisal, Rajshahi, Saidpur and Ishwardi. On international routes, it flies to London, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Jeddah, Bangkok, Muscat and Singapore.
