Bangladeshi expats in Oman have fewer choices as United Airways suspends operations

Muscat: A private carrier of Bangladesh, United Airways, has suspended flight operations due to unavailability of aircraft. “As soon as the aircraft becomes serviceable, flights will resume,” the airline said in a posting on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Thursday.
United Airways flies to Dhaka in Bangladesh three days a week from Muscat on Airbus 310 which has around 250 seats (all economy).
“Our choice has become limited now with the United Airways no more flying to Bangladesh,” said Nirmal Kumar Das, a Bangladesh expatriate living in Oman for the last 20 years. Das said he now has to depend on Oman Air or Biman Bangladesh for his flights to Bangladesh.
“Their service was good but sometimes, the flight used to get delayed from Muscat,” he said.
This is not the first time the private carrier has suspended its flight operations. Domestic and international flights of the airline remained suspended for several days in September 2014 following a conflict among its directors.
Launched in 2007, the private airline fleet of Bangladesh consists of 11 planes, including one Dash 8, three ATR 72s, five MD 83s and two Airbus A310s and operates international flights to Muscat, Jeddah, Dubai, Singapore, Bangkok, Kathmandu and Kolkata in India.
A travel agent said they had given refunds to all the people who had approached them after the flight cancellation started.
“While some people bought tickets for other airlines, others claimed the refund money as United Airways, the largest private airliner of Bangladesh cancelled their flights from Muscat,” a travel agent said.
In September 2014, it had to suspend operations for three days due to financial crisis.