Desk Report
US-Bangla Airlines has not yet taken any effective measures to ensure safety of passengers even after the private airliner met with two accidents in a span of only six months.
Passengers and aviation experts say services of the airline do not match its slogan — Fly first-fly safe.
They think technical flaws, mismanagement and unhealthy competition are responsible for its poor service quality.
Setting out on July 17, 2014, US-Bangla Airlines made a record by operating 45,000 flights within four years.
Although the airline expanded its operation, it still lacks required manpower, logistic support and safety measures.
On March 12, a US-Bangla aircraft crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal, killing 51 people, including pilot, copilot and other crew members of the plane.
Despite the tragic accident in Nepal, the US-Bangla authorities did not admit to their faults. Rather, it tried to shift the blame onto others.
However, the airline promised to take all necessary safety measures to
avoid recurrence of such accidents in future.
A recent accident of another US-Bangla plane at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram has manifested that commitments of the airline were nothing but lip service.
On September 26, technical glitches forced the Boeing-777 plane to make an emergency landing at the airport after its nose wheel got stuck.
All 171 on board the aircraft — 164 passengers and seven crew members narrowly escaped death.
Aviation experts think that the US-Bangla authorities should take adequate safety measures to avoid any accidents.
They say the engines and landing gears of US-Bangla planes need to be tested on regular basis.
Former president of the Bangladesh Airlines Pilots’ Association (BAPA) Captain Nasimul Haque said mechanical faults, mismanagement, poor inspection and improper maintenance are mainly responsible for any plane accidents.
He said the people concerned in civil aviation, airliners, pilots and engineers are failing to follow flight safety rules.
Afsana Rahman, a passenger of US-Bangla plane that met with the accident in Chattogram, said, “The airline seems to be least bothered about accidents.”
A domestic flight of US-Bangla faced technical problem during landing at Saidpur airport in 2015.
On April 15 this year, another Cox’s Bazar-bound flight had to make emergency landing at Shah Amanat Airport.
A Kuala Lumpur-bound flight made emergency flight after flying 20 minutes in the sky due to problems in its aircraft.
On January 12, a Saidpur-Dhaka-bound flight carrying 67 passengers made emergency flight at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
Airport sources said an engine of the aircraft got dysfunctional soon after flying from Saidpur and had to make emergency landing at HSIA using other engine.
The aircraft manufacturing company Boeing was informed of the recent accident at Shah Amanat Airport. US-Bangla engineering department is also investigating the incident while CAAB formed a four-member probe committee led by Aircraft Accident Investigation Group of Bangladesh (AAIG-BD) head captain Salahuddin M Rahmatullah.
The AAIG-BD head said they have been investigating the recent accident of US-Bangla airlines. And the primary report will be submitted within 30 days.
But, the aviation experts blamed poor management of US-Bangla authorities for frequent accidents.
They say regular maintenance of the aircrafts is the key to safe flight. The authorities must take care of their pilots and cabin crew.
However, the authorities concerned were not ready to comment on the frequent accidents.
Contacted, US-Bangla Airlines General Manager (Market Support and PR) Kamrul Islam said any aircraft may meet with accident but frequent accidents are very unfortunate.
Aviation expert Wahiduzzaman, also former board member of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said CAAB is the sole authority to monitor operation of any aircraft.