Regent Airways confident of turnaround
Regent Airways, which is now operating with just two aircraft, yesterday vowed to bounce back from its current predicament by adding four more aircraft to its fleet, repairing two and improving service quality.
The Chattogram-based Habib Group-owned airline flies on two domestic and five international routes. It is hoping to get delivery of four Boeing 737-800 within a few months.
Regent Airways has been going through serious financial woes since 2018, which forced it to shave off four aircraft from its fleet last year.
“We are currently going through a temporary distressing situation,” Imran Asif, CEO of the airline, told reporters at a press conference held at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka yesterday.
Fearing that the airline might be shut down, state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines has recently sent a letter to foreign stations alerting them not to take flight interruption manifest (FIM) from Regent.
An FIM is a document issued by an airline as a substitute ticket coupon when passengers’ original travel is disrupted by schedule change, overbooking or cancellation.
Asif called the letter inappropriate, saying: “We pay FIM bills through IATA Clearing House. We never delay such payment. It is an unfortunate matter that after Biman’s letter, airlines have stopped taking FIM from us.” The International Air Transport Association’s clearing house provides billing and settlement services in multiple currencies for the air transport industry.
“If a business isn’t profitable for a provisional period, it doesn’t mean it is going to be closed. Businesses face frequent ups and downs and we will definitely overcome this financial situation as we are getting support from our owning company, which is a big corporation,” Asif added.
The airline plans to start flying to Abu Dhabi, Chennai and Guangzhou this year after getting six more vessels. Besides, it will increase flight frequency to its existing domestic routes -- Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar -- and international destinations: Kolkata, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Muscat and Doha. Regent is also preparing to improve its service in 2020 as it marks its first decade of operation.
The airline will shortly introduce Regent Screens, the first-ever Wi-Fi-based in-flight entertainment services in Bangladesh’s aviation sector. The service will allow passengers to enjoy high-quality multimedia content on personal devices.
Regent also takes safety of passengers very seriously, the CEO said.
“The safety remains our top priority and we are under no condition going to compromise with it. Whenever we apprehended any risk in terms of safety and reliability, we have never hesitated to ground our aircraft for necessary maintenance.”
All of Regent’s aircraft are Boeing 737-800 and not the Boeing 737 Max airliner -- the model that was grounded after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Hanif Zakaria, chief commercial officer of the airline, and Sohail Majid, director for sales and marketing, were present.
