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United Airways buoyant on Malaysia

Sarwar A Chowdhury, back from Kuala Lumpur
Local United Airways is set to increase its flight frequency between Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur to capitalise on the growing traffic on the route.
From next week, the carrier will run a flight on Fridays to complement the existing two flights weekly. Furthermore, another flight will be added later this month, said Syed Ariful Islam, United Airways's country manager in Malaysia.
The airline ran daily flights on the route but six months ago, it decided to scale down its operations to two flights a week in response to the price war between the two nations' flag carriers. Not only that the two governments also give subsidy on the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route, according to Islam.
As a result the ticket fare on the route is heavily distorted, he said during a media trip to Malaysia last week hosted by the operator.
"Low fares may be great for passengers but not so good for private sector players like us or Regent Air."
Presently, the ticket fare on the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route ranges between Tk 25,000 and Tk37,000.
"It would be better for all airlines if there is a standard ticket fare," said Islam, adding that the seat occupancy is almost 100 percent nowadays on the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur flights and 70 to 80 percent the other way.
Around five lakh Bangladeshis currently reside in Malaysia, with the number set to increase in the coming days given the government's renewed focus on manpower export to the Southeast Asian nation.
"We have the permission, the crews, the aircraft as well as a labour intensive market, so why not increase the frequency on the route?"
Set up in 2007, the airline now has 11 aircraft - two Airbus 310-325, five MD-83, three ATR72 and one DASH-8100.
At present, it operates international flights to London, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Jeddah, Bangkok, Muscat and Singapore. On the domestic front, it flies to Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Cox's Bazar, Barisal, Rajshahi, Saidpurand Ishwardi.
Listed in 2010, United Airways remains the lone airline in the country's stockmarket, with its market capitalisation coming to Tk 511 crore.
Its shares traded between Tk 8.9 andTk 9.1 yesterday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange before closing atTk 9.