Will United Airways fly again?
Authorities of the now-defunct United Airways yesterday reiterated their commitment to revive the airline.
The private airline made the commitment at its 17th annual general meeting for the year 2021-22.
Besides, six other AGMs pending since 2016 were also held to meet the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and Joint Stock Company regulations.
"It's a new and major development. In the AGM, we have decided to revive the airline and holding AGM was part of this initiative," said Kazi Wahidul Alam, chairman of the new board of independent directors of United Airways.
"We have completed all compliances. Now we need the government's assistance as the airline owes huge amount of money to Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB). It would not be possible to revive the airline without waiving of the debt," he added.
Wahidul, also an aviation expert and editor of the Weekly Monitor, said the current board of independent directors reiterated its commitment to revive the airline's operations as soon as possible while complying with the existing rules and regulations of the country.
Board of directors Prof M Sadiqul Islam, Prof Md Maksudur Rahman Sarker, Prof Md Badruzzaman Bhuiyan, Mohammed Shah Newaz, Syed Ershad Ahmed, and Managing Director ATM Nazrul Islam were present at the meeting.
On November 10, 2022, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave instructions to the respective authorities to waive the huge amounts of surcharge the airline owes to the CAAB, creating a ray of hope for reviving the airlines.
The PM came up with this instruction while Prof Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), called on her at the latter's office.
Contacted, United Airways MD ATM Nazrul Islam said the main obstacle behind reviving the airline is that CAAB would get huge amounts of money from the airline as surcharge while the principal amount is around Tk 60 crore.
The remaining Tk 292.81 crore was counted as a surcharge at an annual rate of 72 per cent. The debt is swelling every year due to the compound surcharge method. The BSEC said the airline cannot pay the debt as it currently has nothing but a few unusable aircrafts.
Established in 2005, the company was listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange 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, the 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.
Kazi Wahidul Alam was appointed as its chairman during this time.
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