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Dhaka private airline to fly daily to Kolkata

DHAKA — GMG Airlines, a private airline of Bangladesh that made its international debut last year, plans an overseas expansion this year by taking advantage of open sky policy in neighbouring countries.

The lone private sector airline of the country, will increase its flight frequencies on Dhaka-Kolkata route to once a day from twice a week from February 18 as India has offered unlimited frequencies to foreign airlines during peak tourism season from November to March.

"We have overcome the initial hurdles of launching international operations. Now it is time for expansion," Managing Director of the airline Shahab Sattar told newsmen in Dhaka yesterday.

"We are also waiting for consultative committee meeting between civil aviation regulators of Bangladesh and India, likely next month, which may pave the way for flights to more Indian cities," he said.

If the meeting is held next month and GMG receives the nod, it will operate daily flights from Dhaka to Kolkata beyond the March 31 tourism promotion offer. If not, the airline will seek extension of the offer until the meeting is held. GMG will then expand operations to New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

The consultative committee meetings of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh with regional counterparts got delayed.

The airline will also launch flights between Dhaka and Colombo soon as Sri Lanka recently accepted GMG as designated carrier of Bangladesh replacing Biman, which prefers not to operate flights to the island nation.

GMG is also waiting for the outcome of a consultative committee meeting likely to be held early next month between Bangladesh and Nepal on revision of air services agreement. The airline will fly to the capital of the Himalayan kingdom as soon as the regulatory process is complete.

The airline is also trying to fly to more overseas destinations as its international flights have started wooing passengers.