Four private airlines owe CAAB over Tk1,223cr

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is owed a total of Tk1,223 crore by four private airlines.

Of these airlines, three are currently closed, which owe the CAAB over Tk1,192 crore. The information was disclosed during a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism on Sunday (17 September).

The Parliamentary Committee on Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism wanted to know how much money the CAAB owes or is owed from their dealings with domestic private airlines companies.

The CAAB submitted a report in this regard during the meeting with its chairman RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury in the chair.

According to the sources, the CAAB said it is owed a total of Tk1,222.98 crore by Regent Airways, NovoAir, United Airways and GMG Airlines. Among them, only NovoAir is still running operations.

As of last May, two other private airlines, US Bangla and Air Astra, both of which are still in business, have no debt. 

The CAAB is owed more than Tk408 crore by Regent Airways, while GMG Airlines owes more than Tk396 crore.

It is owed Tk388.97 crore by United Airways and Tk 29.48 crore from NovoAir.

After the meeting, a press release of the Parliament Secretariat said the committee recommended taking necessary measures to collect the money owed by the private airlines.

Meanwhile, a probe report of the sub-committee on the Hotel Intercontinental renovation project – which was presented in the previous meeting – was on today's agenda.

The report claimed that it was not needed to spend "exorbitantly" on the renovation works, and that the government's money was "unnecessarily spent" for the benefit of certain people.

According to the report, the rooms of 26 square metres have been increased to 40 square metres. As a result, the number of rooms was reduced to 226 from 272 –which was not necessary.

Apart from this, the committee recommended widening the road from the Cox's Bazar airport to the city on an urgent basis and improve its beauty, maintain the cleanliness of the beach and implement the activities with mutual coordination.

Committee members Mosharraf Hossain, Ashek Ullah, Syeda Rubina Akhtar, Kaniz Fatema Ahmed were present in the meeting.