Best Air Flies to Colombo, Male

Best Air, the country's third private airliner, would start its direct flights on two new international routes --Colombo and Male-- from tomorrow (Monday). "This is for the first time in Bangladesh that a private airline has introduced direct flights to Colombo and Male," M Haider Uzzaman, Chairman of the Best Air, told a press briefing in Dhaka.

"Best Air would launch its direct flight between Dhaka-Colombo and Dhaka-Male from July 28," he said.

"We have already received the permission from Sri Lankan Civil Aviation Authority and we will start our operation ahead of the SAARC summit," Haider Uzzaman said.

"Initially the lone Boeing 737-200, already in operation on Dhaka-Bangkok route, will be pressed on Dhaka-Colombo and Colombo-Male routes," the Best Air chairman said.

Director of Administration and HR Group Captain (Retd) M Alamgir, Director of the Regulatory Affairs Ali Reza Khan, Head of Engineering Department Jalaluddin Ahmed and Director of Marketing and Sales Farhad Hossain were present at the press briefing.

Haider Uzzaman said several thousands of Sri Lankan citizens are now working at the country's export processing zones and ready-made garments in Bangladesh.

Besides, several hundreds of students of the country are studying at several educational institutions, including the University of Science and Technology of Chittagong.

"Since there are no direct flights between Dhaka and Colombo, they have to come to Bangladesh via Bangkok or Singapore. Best Air's direct flight between Dhaka and Colombo appears to be as a blessing for the expatriate Sri Lankans living in Bangladesh," he said.

The Best Air Chairman also said several thousands of Bangladeshi nationals are now working in different sectors of Maldives. The Dhaka-Male flight of the Best Air will carry great significance for these expatriate Bangladeshis," he observed.

Best Air will operate its direct flights between Zia International Airport of Dhaka and Bandarnayeke International Airport of Colombo on Friday and Monday every week. The two-way flights between Dhaka and Colombo will cost US$800, while the two-way flights between Dhaka and Male will cost US$860. The Best Air's aircraft will directly reach Colombo and then left Colombo for Male.

The carrier, which launched its operation on the domestic route in the mid-January this year with a single Boeing 737-200, launched its first international operations on Dhaka-Bangkok route a month earlier.

The carrier is going to start the second and third international flights at a time when airlines across the world are cutting down their flights in the face of higher fuel costs.

Best Aviation started its journey in 1999 as helicopter operator and then started its operation as a Freighter Airline in 2000. It obtained license in 2006 from the Civil Aviation Authority to operate passenger service in the international and domestic sectors. The company launched its passenger fleet with Boeing 737-200, which was the first in Bangladesh.

Best Air, one of the five local carriers, came to share a slice of about 8 per cent growth in aviation industry, started its operation on the country's busiest domestic Dhaka-Chittagong route on January 14 this year with a single Boeing 737-200, but suspended its flights later to avoid losses against the backdrop of poor traffic and rising fuel costs.

It operates flight to Bangkok four days a week with the same Boeing.

The Best Air has already got the permissions to operate flights to Kolkata, Chennai, Malaysia, Kunming, Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait. The aviation industry in Bangladesh has marked a boom with the launch of three private airlines in the last one year. Yet another is set to start commercial flights next month.

Source: The New Nation Dated :27-07-2008