An effort to revive United Airways
As part of its move to revive the private airline, the board of directors of now defunct United Airways is going to hold a meeting after seven years.
The annual general meeting (AGM) is set to be held on January 3, 2023.
After 2015, no AGM of the board has been held, ATM Nazrul Islam, managing director of United Airways, told The Daily Star yesterday.
"We will hold the AGM -- which will cover seven consecutive years, 2016 to 2022 -- to comply with the joint-stock company rules, as United Airlines is a registered company with the stock exchange," Nazrul said.
"We want to revive the airline, and holding the AGM is part of this initiative," he also said.
The AGM's agenda is to receive, consider and adopt the directors' and auditors' reports, accompanied by audited financial statements for 2016 to 2022.
Earlier on November 10, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina instructed relevant authorities to waive the huge amounts of surcharge the airline owes to Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), creating a ray of hope for reviving the business.
Earlier on November 10, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina instructed relevant authorities to waive the huge amounts of surcharge the airline owes to Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), creating a ray of hope for reviving the business.
The prime minister gave the instruction while Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, chairperson of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), called on her at her office.
According to BSEC, United Airways owes CAAB around Tk 56.87 crore, with additional value-added tax amounting to Tk 5.65 crore and Tk 2 lakh income tax. This is the principal debt.
Additional Tk 292.81 crore has been counted as surcharge, at an annual rate of 72 percent. The debt is swelling every year, as the surcharge compounds. BSEC said the airline cannot pay the debt as it currently has nothing but a few unusable aircraft.
Talking to The Daily Star, Shibli said the board is planning to sell the company's old aircraft and purchase new cargo aircraft.
"We couldn't bring in buyers earlier, as the airline owes several crores to CAAB as surcharge," he said, adding that the buyers will pay the principal dues the airline owes CAAB.
Asked, ATM Nazrul Islam said the dues, the enormous surcharge along with the principal amount, was the main obstacle to reviving the airline.
To look into reasons behind the airline's collapse, the stock market regulator formed an inquiry committee on September 5 as a last-ditch attempt to restart its operations.
The commission intends to look into the suspension of operations, reconstruction of the board of directors, resumption of operations, and trading patterns of United Airways securities since its debut on the stock exchange.
Established in 2005, the company was listed on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in 2010. In February 2016, it ceased flight operations without any announcement amid mounting losses due to massive irregularities and corruption by its directors.
To revive the airline, BSEC took a series of measures. Its board was restructured on February 28, 2021, and eight independent directors were appointed on March 4 that year.
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