Domestic airlines spreading wings to int’l destinations

Mahfuja Mukul: State-owned company Biman Bangladesh Airlines has recently started flights to Rome, Italy and Narita, Japan. Destinations such as New York, Sydney, Bali, Brunei and the Philippines are also planned to operate flights. On the other hand, US-Bangla Airlines, the country’s largest private airline, has recently added two large Airbus 330-300 aircraft to its fleet. Along with the launch of flights to Abu Dhabi, the airline has also started increasing the seat capacity of existing routes by using two aircraft. Besides, preparations are being made to operate flights

on Jeddah, Rome and London routes.
Apart from this, NovoAir is in the process of adding more A321 model aircraft to its fleet. The airline plans to gradually launch flights to six regional destinations including Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai when the aircraft are added. On the other hand, the country’s newest airline Air Astra is preparing to launch flights to Kolkata in India and Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal by next October.
A new private line, Dhaka Air is going to launch operation in the later part of this year. It is known that the number of passengers on

international routes is continuously increasing after Corona. On the other hand, the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport will be opened this year. Various projects are also ongoing for the development of the infrastructure of the domestic airports of the country. And to exploit these opportunities, the domestic airlines have decided to launch activities in new international destinations.
Currently Biman Bangladesh Airlines has 21 aircraft in its fleet. Biman plans to start flights on commercially viable routes including New York, Sydney, Male, Kunming. For this, the Board of Directors of
Biman has decided to purchase at least 25 more aircraft by 2034.
Biman Bangladesh MD and CEO Shafiul Azim said that Biman has a good position in western countries. Now the East is also looked at. Our remote plans include operating flights to Sydney, Bali, Brunei and the Philippines.
Meanwhile, two 436-seater Airbus 330-300 aircraft have recently been added to the US-Bangla Airlines fleet. The airline has increased capacity on Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Doha and Kuala Lumpur routes using the two aircraft. Currently, the US-Bangla fleet has a total of 24 aircraft. The airline wants to add at least three more aircraft to its fleet by the end of this year.
Captain Lutfar Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of US-Bangla Airlines said, US-Bangla is preparing to start flight operations to destinations in Europe as well as the Middle East. Preparations are underway to start flights on the Rome route in February next year and the London route by October.
Meanwhile, NovoAir is moving forward with plans to start flights to six international destinations in a phased manner from this year. NovoAir plans to launch flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Dubai, Sharjah and Muscat.
On the other hand, Air Astra, the country’s newest airline, is preparing to start flights on international routes by next October. For this, the company applied to Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) last March for frequency allocation to operate flights to Kolkata in India and Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal.
In this context, Air Astra CEO Imran Asif said that there is a plan to travel on international routes between India and Nepal through which the permission can be obtained first.