(MENAFN- Bangladesh Monitor) Dhaka : The private carrier US-Bangla Airlines added another 72-seater brand new ATR 72-600 aircraft to its fleet on January 22. With the latest induction, the airline has raised its fleet size to thirteen, highest for any private airline in the country.
The aircraft which came straight from the factory in France landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 4:40 pm. US-Bangla plans to increase frequencies and expand network in the domestic sector with the new aircraft.
Capt Sikder Mezbahuddin Ahmed, Adviser of US-Bangla Airlines and other high officials were present at the airport to receive the new plane.
Speaking on the occasion, Capt Ahmed said, "We promise safe and comfortable journey to all our valued customers. We take pride to be the best service provider with the highest level of safety. We will continue to develop as the best airline of this country and in this region."
The airline's fleet today consists of thirteen aircraft : four Boeing 737-800s, six brand new ATR72-600s and three Dash8-Q400s.
Currently, in domestic routes, the airline operates daily flights to Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Jashore, Saidpur, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Barishal from Dhaka.
In international routes, the airline operates flights to Kolkata, Chennai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Muscat and Doha.
The airline is planning to add four more brand new ATR 72-600 aircraft to its fleet by June 2020.
Earlier, private airline US-Bangla took two more ATR 72-600s on long-term lease from the specialist regional aircraft lessor TrueNoord.
The aircraft are financed by Citibank, Société Général and Royal Bank of Canada under TrueNoord's new warehouse finance facility. Milbank, Tweed and Hadley and McCloy LLP represented TrueNoord and Clifford Chance advised the banks on the financing side of the transaction.
Mohammed Abdullah Al Mamun, Managing Director, US-Bangla Airlines said, "These new-vintage ATR72-600s are needed to meet the growing demand for domestic travel across our route network. We are very pleased to work with TrueNoord as a specialist lessor in the regional sector - their expertise with turboprop aircraft perfectly complements our business strategy."
Anne-Bart Tieleman, CEO, TrueNoord said, "We are delighted to further support US-Bangla's fleet modernisation programme. Our recent deliveries to them form part of a growing footprint for TrueNoord across the Indian sub-Continent. We are currently working on a variety of transactions where the flexibility and operational route expansion opportunities provided by regional aircraft suit the growth ambitions of several airlines. These two turboprops increase our number to fourteen ATRs out of an aggregate fleet of 49 regional aircraft operating worldwide."
TrueNoord's portfolio of turboprops is operating across India, Bangladesh and South East Asia improving connectivity and commerce. The company is seeing significant growth across all parts of Asia and as air travel becomes more affordable and the regional airport infrastructure expands, this increase is set to continue.
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