US-Bangla Airlines


US-Bangla Airlines is a privately owned Bangladeshi airline headquartered in Dhaka and based at Shahjalal International Airport.
The airline is the largest private airline in Bangladesh in terms of fleet size and overall second largest airline after the flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

History

US-Bangla Airlines commenced operations with domestic flights on 17 July 2014. Initially, the airline launched two domestic destinations, Chittagong and Jessore from its hub in Dhaka. Flights to Cox's Bazar from Dhaka were launched in August. In October, the airline launched flights to Saidpur.
In July 2016, the airline announced plans to phase in its first three Boeing 737-800 aircraft in September of the same year, and to subsequently launch new international routes, for example to Singapore and Dubai.
On 29 April 2019, the airline started flights to Guangzhou, becoming the first Bangladeshi airline to operate flights to China.
The airline started flights from Dhaka to Chennai on 31 March 2019 also becoming first Bangladeshi airline carrier to operate flights to Southern India.
In February 2019, US-Bangla Airlines announced an order for four ATR 72-600 aircraft to be used on domestic flights. On 22 March 2019, the first aircraft was delivered from Toulouse to Dhaka via El Dabaa and Muscat.
In September 2019, US-Bangla Airlines become the second largest airline after Biman Bangladesh Airlines, in Bangladesh in terms of fleet size.
The airline in order to make the Sylhet city more accessible, supposed to start cross-city flights by Mid-2020 from Sylhet to other cities without any stop-over at Dhaka. The airline is planning to begin cross-city flights like, Sylhet–Chittagong, Sylhet–Cox's Bazar, Sylhet–Jessore and Chittagong–Jessore.

Corporate affairs

Its headquarters are in the Baridhara Diplomatic Zone in Dhaka.

Destinations

As of March 2018, US-Bangla Airlines serves the following domestic and international destinations: The airline announced it would start flights to Dubai-International and Dammam soon.
CountryCityAirportNotes/Ref.
DhakaShahjalal International Airport
ChittagongShah Amanat International Airport
JessoreJessore Airport
Cox's BazarCox's Bazar Airport
SaidpurSaidpur Airport
SylhetOsmani International Airport
RajshahiShah Makhdum Airport
BarisalBarisal Airport
GuangzhouGuangzhou Baiyun International Airport
ChennaiChennai International Airport
KolkataNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport
Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur International Airport
MuscatMuscat International Airport
DohaDoha Hamad International Airport
SingaporeSingapore Changi Airport
BangkokSuvarnabhumi Airport

Fleet

As of January 2020, US-Bangla Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

Flight 211

On 12 March 2018, US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q-402 with registration S2-AGU, at Tribhuvan International Airport, killing 52 of the 71 people on board. The final accident report, published on 27 January 2019, concluded that "the probable cause of the accident is due to pilot's failure to understand the situation and handle the aircraft. Due to which the aircraft crashed".

Other incidents

On 26 September 2018, US-Bangla Airlines Flight 141, a Boeing 737-800 with registration S2-AJA, took off from Dhaka airport at 11:30 am with 164 passengers and seven crew members on board. It was scheduled to land at the Cox's Bazar Airport at 12:30 pm. The pilot circled for some time in Cox's Bazar as its nose wheel got stuck. The pilot then put the Boeing 737–800 on a holding pattern over Chattogram to burn off fuel so that it was lighter while landing and fire risks were reduced. The plane eventually touched down at 1:18 pm. Some passengers received minor injuries as they tried to come out from the craft hurriedly.