United Airways plans to fly to 2 new int'l destinations soon

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FE Report United Airways, one of the country's leading private airlines, has planned to fly to two new international destinations from next month as it would boost its fleet to operate more flights, officials said Saturday. "We are expecting to start flying to Singapore and Doha from Dhaka within a couple of months to carry the increased number of international passengers," said Director of the airline Khorshed Alam. "We are hopeful that the passengers would have a safe and comfortable journey to the new destinations from Dhaka boarding in our upcoming flights," he told the FE. "We have already taken an office in Singapore. We need approvals from both Bangladesh and the destinations abroad to start operation. We are hopeful of completing all the procedures and start flights within the next couple of months," he said. The United Airways Limited has been operating flights to six international routes and one regional route over the last few years. It is the first public limited company in the aviation sector of Bangladesh and is now operating in international routes from Dhaka to Jeddah, Dubai, Muscat, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Kathmandu and Kolkata. The country's aviation industry has been getting boosted over the last few years as the trips of Bangladeshis to different destinations like Singapore and Middle-East have risen for business and tourism purposes. United Airways was launched in July 2007 through operating flights on some local routes. In 2008 it first operated its journey to a foreign destination namely Kolkata and then in 2009 it started flights to Dubai. It made an operating profit of Tk 783.9 million in fiscal year (FY) 2011-12 against its turnover of Tk 4.78 billion. United Airways has a total of nine aircraft in its inventory. These are: DASH 8-100, two ATR-72, four MD-83 and two Airbus-310 aircraft. The airline has planned to procure one MD-83, one ATR-72 and two Jetstream to enrich its fleet soon. The state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines is the largest airline company in the country which operates on two local routes and 17 international destinations. Some other private Bangladeshi airlines including Regent Air and Novo Air are also operating on different domestic and international routes.