Novoair to spread wings to 6 int'l destinations by June

As part of major plans to expand its routes, Novoair, one of the leading private airlines of the country, is going to spread its wing to six international destinations by June.

In its bid to operate flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Dubai, Muscat and Sharjah, the airline is also going to expand its fleet from five aircraft at present to eight.

"We are talking with lessors to get three Airbus A321 aircraft on lease. Different leasing organisations have assured us that it will be possible to get three aircraft within three to four months," Mofizur Rahman, managing director of Novoair, told The Daily Star yesterday.

He also said the three aircraft were supposed to be inducted into the fleet in September last year. "But we took some time because of the national elections. After the election, the process started again," he added.

Queried further, Mofizur said it was a worldwide problem since it was currently challenging to get an airplane on lease.

"Besides, A321 model aircraft are not available in the configuration we want. Although the three-category seating configuration is okay in Europe, it will not work in Bangladesh. Reconfiguration costs will be around two to three million dollars, which we will have to bear. For this reason, we will not go for reconfiguration," he said.

Mofizur added that the dollar crisis in the nation was posing another challenge.

"Some leasing companies question whether we (Novoair) will be able to pay the lease properly if they give us aircraft on lease due to the dollar crisis in Bangladesh. We assured them that we need to buy different parts for our aircraft every month, for which we need around 2 million dollars, and we are making these payments," he added.

The Novoair boss said they are planning to expand their flights to routes including Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Dubai, Sharjah and Muscat with the three additional A-321 aircraft.

A member of the Airbus A320 family, the A321 aircraft is popular for operating flights over medium- and short-haul destinations. It carries 185 to 236 passengers.

Novoair started its journey on January 9, 2013 by operating flights from Dhaka to Chattogram.

After nearly three years of operating on domestic routes, the airline launched flights to Yangon, Myanmar. However, in 2017, Novoair stopped flying on this route.

Currently, Kolkata is the only international route that the airline operates on.