United Air resumes flights today

After being grounded for three days over a conflict in the board of directors, United Airways resumes operations today.

The domestic flights would resume today but flying the international routes would commence after completion of some regulatory requirements, which could take a day or more.

During a late-night press conference at United's Uttara office, top officials of the airlines said they would give priority to stranded passengers today and refund the passengers who had to fly other airlines.

The decision to resume operations came after a five-hour-long closed-door meeting of the newly formed board and former chairman of United Airways, Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury, at his home in Uttara yesterday evening.

Tasbirul had stepped down on Monday from the post of chairman and managing director following the internal conflict and he was reinstated as the MD of the carrier yesterday.

"All of them have reached a consensus and an agreement was signed among them," Kamrul Islam, deputy general manager of marketing support and public relations of the United Airways, told The Daily Star last night.

"As all the issues have been settled, we will restart our domestic flights from tomorrow," said the airline's flight operations director M Eliash. He on Wednesday evening had announced the suspension of operations following the new board's failure to come up with a plan to keep the company afloat.

Flight operations on international routes would be recommenced upon receiving clearance from the Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh (Caab) and completing GDS (global distribution system) requirements, he said, adding, "It may take 20 to 30 hours."

SM Nazmul Anam, Caab director, told The Daily Star that he could clear United for flights this morning if the airlines asked for permission.

Last night, Mahtabur at the press conference said a misunderstanding grew among them during a board meeting on September 22, which they managed to clear. He said United flights of today would give special priority to passengers whose visas are about to expire.

The crisis at the lone private airlines listed in the stock exchange surfaced after Tasbirul was forced to step down following an internal feud over earnings and expenditures.

He had cited personal reasons for his resignation but other board members had long been trying to get rid of him and make a change in the leadership of the carrier.

When Tasbirul quit after being at the helm of the company for seven years, Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman, a director, was appointed chairman the same day, and Shahinoor Alam was made acting managing director and Ferdous Imam the acting chief executive officer.

At yesterday's meeting, Shahinoor was made vice-chairman of the company.

The new leaders could not take any tangible step to assure investors and shareholders as well as the employees that things were under control.

None of them even went to work, sources claimed.

On Tuesday night, some 200 employees including pilots, engineers and ground staff sent letters to their superiors asking they be released from their contracts, which deepened the crisis at United.

The situation became even worse after company executives found nobody to pay for the fuel for flights. The heads of all departments then decided to suspend operations.

Shahinoor Alam, the acting managing director, on Wednesday night wrote to Caab informing it of the airline's intent to suspend operations. The news was not immediately posted on the stock exchange's website and trading server.

The non-disclosure created confusion among thousands of investors and they began dumping United Airways shares. Share prices dropped 7.63 percent on Thursday.

General investors hold 74.37 percent shares of United, while institutional investors 17.19 percent and the sponsors and directors hold 8.44 percent.

The abrupt flight suspensions also created sufferings for the passengers. Some 2,300 to 2,400 inbound and outbound passengers got stranded.

Set up in 2007, the airline has 11 aircraft in its fleet: two Airbus 310s, five MD-83s, three ATR-72s and one Bombardier Dash-8. It was listed at the stock exchange in 2010.

Prior to the suspension, United was operating domestic flights to Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Cox's Bazar, Rajshahi, Saidpur and Ishwardi. On the international routes, it was flying to Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Jeddah, Bangkok, Muscat and Singapore.