United Airways

United Airways (Bangladesh)
ইউনাইটেড এয়ারওয়েজ

IATA ICAO Callsign 4H[1] UBD[1] UNITED BANGLADESH[1]
Founded	28 June 2005[2]
Commenced operations	10 July 2007 (operations temporarily suspended)
Hubs	Shahjalal International Airport
Secondary hubs	Shah Amanat International Airport
Fleet size	11
Destinations	12
Company slogan	Fly Your Own Airline
Headquarters	1, Jasimuddin Avenue, Uttara Tower, Uttara, Dhaka-1230, Bangladesh
Employees	1,000 (2014)[3]
Website	uabdl.com

United Airways (BD) Ltd. (DSE : UNITEDAIR CSE : UNITEDAIR), operating as United Airways (Bengali: ইউনাইটেড এয়ারওয়েজ), is a Bangladeshi airline headquartered in Uttara, Dhaka.^[4] It operates flights from its main hub at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka and secondary hub at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong. It was founded in 2005 and began flights on 10 July 2007 with a Bombardier Dash 8-100, purchased from Island Air.^[5] United Airways is the first listed company in the aviation sector of Bangladesh;^[6][7] it became listed in July 2010.^[2]

The airline is often criticized for their poor service due to frequent delays, flight suspensions and poor in-flight amenities.^[8][9] In September 2014, the airline temporarily suspended its operations for three days following a conflict among its board of directors and a financial crisis.^{[3][10][11][12]} The airline again suspended all operations on 6 March 2016, after a previous gap in service from mid-January to 24 February of that year.^[13]

History

United Airways (Bangladesh) Limited, was founded by Captain Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury, a British-Bangladeshi businessmen from the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. , along with few businessman and entrepreneurs in 2005. It obtained the Air Transport Operating License (ATOL) from Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh on 28 June 2005.^[5][14] The airline started operating scheduled domestic flights on 10 July 2007, its maiden flights being Dhaka—Sylhet and Dhaka—Chittagong, with a Bombardier Dash 8-100, purchased from Island Air.^[15] After few months, domestic flights to Cox's Bazar,^[16] Jessore,^[16] and Barisal^[17] started, along with international service to Kolkata from Dhaka and Chittagong.^[18] Another Dash 8-100 was delivered in 2008.

In 2009, the airline received a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft, and launched flights to London,^[19] Dubai,^[20] Kuala Lumpur^[21] and Kathmandu.^[22]

In 2010, it commenced flights to Jeddah,^[23] and launched the lucrative Sylhet-London flight with an Airbus A310-300,^[24] while an ATR 72-200^[24] and McDonnell Douglas MD-83 were delivered. In 2011, it added a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, another Airbus A310-300 and an ATR 72-200. Flights to Bangkok started^[25] and the carrier launched the route Dhaka-Rajshahi-Saidpur. In 2012, it began flights to Muscat from Dhaka and Chittagong, restarted the Chittagong-Kolkata flight, and it also resumed flights to Bangkok.^[26][27][28]

In 2013, it added two McDonnell Douglas MD-83^[29] and an ATR 72-200.^[30][31] It launched flights to Singapore and domestic flights to Ishwardi.^[32][33]

In 2014, the carrier launched flights to Doha in May.^[34] The airline was scheduled to commence flights to Karachi ^[12][35]

On 24 September 2014 evening, United Airways temporarily suspended all domestic and international flights.^[3][11][12] A conflict of interest among board members was the reason for the short suspension.^[10] The day before the suspension, the resignation of Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury, the chairman and managing director was announced by the airline; following that the board was reshuffled and temporary chairman and managing director were appointed.^[36][37] More than two thousand passengers were stranded in Bangladesh and abroad because of flight cancellations;^[10][38] international flights to Doha, Muscat and Kuala Lumpur from Dhaka did not leave.^[11] The suspension also affected the investors of the listed company, as stock prices fell by 7.63 percent at Dhaka Stock Exchange.^[39] However, on 27 September, three days after the suspension, the carrier resumed operations with a domestic flight following a consensus among board members.^[10][40]

The airline again suspended all service as of 6 March 2016. As of that date, all nine of its aircraft were reportedly grounded for technical reasons.^[13]

Controversies

In June 2011, a court in London had ordered United Airways to repaint its fleet and change its name in the UK after a legal action was taken by American carrier United Airlines.^[41][42] Lawyers for United Airlines said that United Airways had "illegally violated" its trademark and "wrongly associated its services with" those of the American airline.^[43][44] The problem arose when United Airways had services to London Gatwick Airport, which may have confused passengers flying with United Airlines.^[41]

In November 2012, United Airways was alleged of inflating its FY 2012-13 first quarter earnings.^[45] The Securities and Exchange Commission later formed a panel to look into its irregularities.^[7] Earlier in an investigation, the Dhaka Stock Exchange found anomalies in preparing financial statements by United Airways.^[7] It also detected a manipulative trading pattern by an individual investor to create artificial demand for the airline shares.^[7] The carrier falsified its first quarter earnings' report to show positive earnings per share.^[7] United Airways later admitted that it did not show deferred tax in its financial statement.^[46]

In April 2014, CAAB threatened to suspend the carrier's operations due to outstanding aeronautical and non-aeronautical fees of around BDT 770 million.^[47][48] The regulator also imposed a ban on sale or purchase of aircraft by United Airways until it clears all current and outstanding charges in the next one year.^[47] CAAB also criticized the airline for not making payments on-time in the past.^[47] Following an order from the High Court, CAAB temporarily renewed the airline's AOC.^[49]

Destinations

United Airways McDonnell Douglas MD-83

United Airways ATR 72-200

United Airways Bombardier Dash 8-100

United Airways serves the following destinations (as of August 2015):^[50]

City	Country	Airport	Notes	Refs
Bangkok	Thailand	Suvarnabhumi Airport		[50]
Barisal	Bangladesh	Barisal Airport	Terminated	[50]
Chittagong	Bangladesh	Shah Amanat International Airport	Secondary hub	[50]
Cox's Bazar	Bangladesh	Cox's Bazar Airport		[50]
Dhaka	Bangladesh	Shahjalal International Airport	Hub	[50]
Doha	Qatar	Hamad International Airport	Terminated	[50]
Dubai	United Arab Emirates	Dubai International Airport	Terminated	[50]
Ishwardi	Bangladesh	Ishwardi Airport	Terminated	[50]
Jeddah	Saudi Arabia	King Abdulaziz International Airport		[50]
Jessore	Bangladesh	Jessore Airport		[50]
Karachi	Pakistan	Jinnah International Airport	Terminated	[35]
Kathmandu	Nepal	Tribhuvan International Airport	Terminated	[50]
Kolkata	India	Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport		[50]
Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur International Airport		[50]
London	United Kingdom	Gatwick Airport	Terminated	[51]
Medina	Saudi Arabia	Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport	Terminated	[50]
Muscat	Oman	Muscat International Airport		[50]
Rajshahi	Bangladesh	Shah Makhdum Airport	Terminated	[50]
Saidpur	Bangladesh	Saidpur Airport		[50]
Singapore	Singapore	Singapore Changi Airport	Terminated	[50]
Sylhet	Bangladesh	Osmani International Airport		[50]

Fleet

United Airways Airbus A310-300 leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

As of September 2016, the United Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[52]

In-flight amenities

United Airways operates all economy cabin seats in all of its aircraft. In-flight meals are provided on international flights, and juices and candies are provided on domestic flights. None of its aircraft are equipped with in-flight entertainment. It has an in-flight magazine called Welcome Bangladesh.^[53]

Accidents and incidents

• 13 August 2012: Flight 546, an ATR 72-212 registered S2-AFE, was performing a domestic flight en route to Dhaka from Jessore, carrying 10 passengers, when the windshield of the first officer (co-pilot) completely blew out due to high pressure at an altitude of 9000 feet. The captain safely landed the plane at Shahjalal International Airport. The first officer received an eye injury.^[54][55]
• 20 July 2014: Flight 501, an ATR 72-212 registered S2-AFN, was performing a domestic flight en route to Cox's Bazar from Dhaka, carrying 43 passengers and 5 crews, when the nose gear collapsed after safely landing at Cox's Bazar Airport.^[56] This caused severe damage to the front fuselage of the aircraft. The airport was shut down for 22 hours until the aircraft was safely evacuated from the runway.^[57]
• 11 August 2014: Flight 584, a MD-83, performing an international flight en route to Dhaka, Bangladesh from Muscat, Oman, carrying 148 passengers, narrowly averted a mid-air collision with a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 cargo aircraft while flying over Kolkata airspace in India due to a mistake by an air traffic controller from Kolkata Air Traffic Control.^[58] The MD-83 was at a cruising altitude of about 33000 feet when ATC asked the aircraft to descend to 29000 feet.^[58] While descending, at an altitude of 32000 feet, the aircraft's TCAS warned the pilots of an imminent collision with the nearby aircraft.^[58] The captain of the United Airways aircraft, claimed he was in "visual distance" with the Saudia 747. He followed procedures and ascended to 33000 feet to avoid the collision.^[58]
• 7 August 2015: Flight 585, a MD-83 registered S2-AEI, was performing an international flight en route to Muscat, Oman from Dhaka, Bangladesh, carrying 173 passengers, had to make an emergency landing at Raipur Airport in Chhattisgarh, India due to an engine failure in air.^[59] The aircraft landed safely and everyone on board were unhurt.^[60]

References

External links

Media related to United Airways at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website

Airlines of Bangladesh
Passenger	Biman Bangladesh Airlines United Airways Regent Airways Novoair US-Bangla Airlines
Cargo	Bismillah Airlines SkyAir
Defunct	Air Bangladesh Aero Bengal Airlines Air Parabat Best Air GMG Airlines Royal Bengal Airline Zoom Airways