Novoair suspends service, says it is ‘temporary’

Novoair, one of Bangladesh’s three private airlines, has stopped operating its flights.

On Friday, Novoair's Head of Marketing and Sales Mesbahul Islam confirmed the news to bdnews24.com, saying: “Novoair's flight operations have been stopped temporarily.”

Another Novoair official told bdnews24.com on condition of anonymity, “We were trying to sell our aircraft. A group will come for an inspection. Flight operations have been halted for the time being, and they may resume later."

It stopped ticket bookings on Apr 19, and briefly resumed flights, but has now shut down completely.

Rumours of Novoair winding down its business have been around for almost two years. In late January 2024, Novoair sold two ATR 72-500 aircraft to Nepal's Yeti Airlines, and they took possession of the two aircraft on Feb 1.

At the time, a Novoair official said they were selling the ATR aircraft suitable for short-haul flights to buy aircraft for long routes.

After selling those, the private airline now has five aircraft in its fleet.

Novoair started passenger transport from Dhaka to Chattogram on Jan 9, 2013.

Since then, they have operated over 100,000 flights and served more than 7.5 million passengers.

As the country's “first” airline, Novoair launched a frequent flyer programme for passengers - Smiles, co-branded cards, a mobile app for ticket purchase, and a web check-in facility.

According to the fortnightly travel magazine The Bangladesh Monitor, Novoair won the “Best Domestic Airline” award in 2014 and 2019, and the “Best Ontime Performance Airline” award in 2022 and 2023.

Novoair last operated daily flights from Dhaka to Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet, Jessore, Saidpur, and Rajshahi on domestic routes.

Novoair launched international flights on the Dhaka-Kolkata route in December 2016. They suspended flights on this route for a few days during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although it was later resumed, the airline once again “temporarily” suspended flight operations on this route on Sept 16, 2024. It is still closed.

Several airlines, including United Airways, GMG Airlines, and Regent Airways, have already closed down in Bangladesh. Novoair has been added to that list now.