Rumors about the closure of private airline Novoair have been circulating for some time, and recently, they gained significant attention on social media. The cause of the speculation stemmed from the fact that passengers were unable to book flights for dates after April 19 on Novoair's website, leading many to believe the airline was shutting down.
However, Novoair's Managing Director, Mofizur Rahman, has denied these claims, stating that the reports of the airline closing down are "false."
In a statement to the media on Tuesday (April 15), Rahman clarified, "We temporarily suspended ticket bookings for flights after April 19 due to specific reasons. This triggered the rumors. But now, we've resumed operations, and ticket bookings are open again."
Earlier in the day, it was not possible to book tickets for flights after April 19 on the airline's website. However, by the afternoon, ticket bookings had resumed.
Apart from Novoair, two other private airlines are operating in Bangladesh: US-Bangla Airlines and Air Astra.
A senior official from Novoair explained that the airline is in the process of selling its smaller aircraft to purchase larger ones. Recently, a group of potential buyers showed interest in acquiring the smaller aircraft and had planned an inspection. This was the reason for the temporary suspension of ticket bookings after April 19.
He further added, "We had a meeting today, and the decision has been made to continue flight operations. Ticket bookings are now available again."
Novoair began its operations on January 9, 2013, with flights from Dhaka to Chittagong. Over the past decade, the airline has conducted over 100,000 flights and served more than 7.5 million passengers.
As the country's "first'' airline, Novoair introduced several innovative services, including the Frequent Flyer Program—Smiles, co-branded cards, a mobile app for ticket bookings, and web check-in.
In 2014, Novoair was named the Best Domestic Airline by the travel magazine The Bangladesh Monitor and received the same recognition in 2019. The airline also won awards for "Best On-Time Performance Airline" in 2022 and 2023.
Currently, Novoair operates daily flights on domestic routes from Dhaka to Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet, Jessore, Syedpur, and Rajshahi.
