United back in the sky:Daily Star

Cash-strapped United Airways resumed its domestic and international flights yesterday after a three-day disruption over a conflict among board members. The airline restarted operations with the Dhaka-Saidpur flight at 7:15am, and later at 1:00pm it recommenced its international operation with the Dhaka-Chittagong-Kolkata flight. In addition, it also operated its other scheduled flights on the Dhak
a-Jessore, Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Jeddah routes, said Kamrul Islam, deputy general manager of marketing support and public relations of United Airways. The seat occupancy rate was low in the first flight, but it picked up in the later flights, he said, while hoping that normalcy will return within the next two days. “All our flights are fully booked ahead of Eid and none of the reservations from October 1 onwards have been cancelled.” The carrier is now working to bring the passengers who were left stranded abroad after it suspended three of its international flights. rtThe Dhaka-Jeddah-Dhaka flight was cancelled on Thursday and the Dhaka-Doha-Muscat and Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur-Dhaka flights were cancelled on Wednesday, leaving some 2,300 to 2,400 passengers high and dry. Advertisement “We are planning to accommodate the stranded inbound passengers in our different flights -- we may also arrange special flights to bring them,” Kamrul said.  Meanwhile, the passengers who have already arranged alternative ways will get full refunds on their tickets. The cash-strapped airline had suspended its operations on Wednesday evening for an indefinite period after the company's new board failed to come up with a plan to keep it afloat. The decision to resume operations came on Friday night after a five-hour-long closed-door meeting of the board and former chairman of United Airways, Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury, at his residence in Uttara. Choudhury, who had been at helm of the lone-listed airline for seven years, stepped down on Monday on account of internal conflict. Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman, a director, was subsequently appointed chairman, Shahinoor Alam acting managing director and Ferdous Imam acting chief executive officer of the airline. But after the Friday's meeting, Choudhury was reinstated the managing director of the carrier, while Rahman retained his new post as chairman; Alam was made the vice-chairman of the company. 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. United Airways operates domestic flights to Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Cox's Bazar, Rajshahi, Saidpur and Ishwardi. On the international route, it flies to Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu, Kolkata,                       Jeddah, Bangkok, Muscat and Singapore. General investors hold 74.37 percent of the airline's shares, institutional investors 17.19 percent and sponsors and directors 8.44 percent. Each share of the company closed at Tk 10.90 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday after dropping 7.63 percent upon news of the carrier's operational suspension.