US-Bangla Airlines secures 60pc market share
Dhaka : US-Bangla Airlines is in operation for only eight months but within this short period the airline has achieved almost breakeven point.
“We took to the air on July 17, 2014 and within eight mon-ths has secu-red 60 per cent market share,” Abdullah Al Mamun, Mana-ging Director, US-Bangla Airlines said this while talking to The Bangladesh Monitor.
“It has been possible because of 99.9 per cent on time performance (OTP), which can be termed cent per cent OTP. There was no case of delay for technical purpose.”
“Delays were mainly for low visibility and “notam” by CAAB. During all the flights the doors of the aircraft were closed five minutes before their departure time.”
In case of any delay the airport staff of the airline has to clarify as to why the delay took place, said the Managing Director of the only ISO 9001:2008 certified airline of the country.
“We have for the first time introduced Business Class product in the country which is getting a very positive response. In most of the flights the Business Class cabin is always found to be fully booked,” he said.
We treat children aged between two to eleven as valued guests. They are presented with a captain’s cap to make their flights on US-Bangla Airlines memorable.
Abdullah Al Mamun said, “Our onboard service is liked by passengers, specially frequent travellers. Breakfast on board is provided on all flights before 10 o’clock to facilitate their availing the flight on time. They do not have to worry about having breakfast at home.”
For breakfast, the airline usually provides a wholesome meal usually consisting of shwarma, cake and other items. During the rest of the day’s flights, in-flight meal usually consist of chicken burger with ketchup, cupcake and other items prepared at the own catering facility of the airline.
He said, Bangladeshi pilots are flying the airline’s aircrafts which are being maintained by local engineers.
The airline operates daily four return flights to Chittagong, two return flights to Jessore and one return flight each to Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar and plans to substantially increase the number of flights with the acquisition of its third Dash 8 Q400 aircraft within the next one and a half months and fourth one by July this year.
And with a fleet of four aircraft the airline plans to start operating to regional destinations from August, with Kathmandu and Kolkata on their wish list.
Two of the airline’s Dash 8 Q400 will be used for domestic operations while the third one for international operations. The fourth one will be kept for stopgap utilisation, he said.
Replying to a question, Abdullah Al Mamun said all the aircrafts have been purchased with own financing while rest 30 per cent from the local banks.
We are developing sour own holiday packages. We’ll start offering them when we start our regional operations.
He called upon civil aviation authorities to release of the unused frequencies of other airlines and give it to those airlines who are ready to utilise them. The airlines who are ready to operate are unable to plan in absence of the required slots, he said.
“US-Bangla Airlines is one of the airlines which do not owe anything to the CAAB or the government. All our dues are up-to-date,” Abdullah Al Mamun proudly said.
He expressed the hope at the CAAB will treat the private airlines as Bangladeshi carriers and not charge two kinds of fees. They should not be treated as a foreign airline when they operate to a foreign point. Local airlines should not be treated as par their foreign counterparts. Otherwise the existence of the local airlines will be at stake.
Hangar facilities are an integral part of operation and maintenance of an airline, but unfortunately despite our repeated representations to CAAB, we have been unable to receive required land to construct our own hangar. As a result, for our regular maintenance we have to approach Biman or send the aircraft abroad causing disruption of flights and incurring huge expenses.
We are capable of doing A checks after 600 hours of flights by our own engineers provided we get hangar facilities and help from CAAB, Abdullah Al Mamun added.
US-Bangla Airlines was established in 2010 and incorporated both in Bangladesh and US
