DHAKA: US-Bangla Airlines, Bangladesh's largest airline by fleet size, has launched direct flights from Dhaka to Jeddah amid growing demand for travel to Saudi Arabia.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Faruk Khan launched the inaugural flight on Thursday evening.
“We launched the Dhaka-Jeddah flight as part of our long-term expansion plan,” the carrier's CEO Kamrul Islam told Arab News.
“Focusing on the route to Jeddah, we introduced Airbus with a capacity of 436 seats to our fleets. Inshallah, we will operate flights to other destinations in the Kingdom such as Riyadh and Dammam in the coming days.
Flights from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka to Jeddah are operated every day of the week by Airbus 330 aircraft.
The airline is taking advantage of the growing Middle East travel market. Flights to Saudi Arabia were too few to meet the needs of the kingdom's 3 million or so Bangladeshi workers.
“There is huge demand for (flights) from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries,” Islam said.
Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia “have been demanding for a long time to start flights to the Kingdom and with this flight to Jeddah we have also tried to fulfill their demands,” he added.
It is also planned to serve the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims traveling on the annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages.
“From the first flight to Jeddah, we started carrying Umrah passengers. With the commencement of flight operations to Jeddah, we have included a plan to carry our Hajj pilgrims along with Bangladesh's national flagship, Biman. It will make the journey to the holy land easier for our pilgrims,” Islam said.
Last year, huge demand for flights from Bangladesh to the Middle East during the Hajj season led to a sharp rise in prices, preventing many would-be pilgrims from embarking on the spiritual journey.
Founded in 2010, US-Bangla Airlines started as a domestic carrier and recently expanded its routes to international routes. It currently serves 13 destinations in 10 countries.
With the latest acquisition of new Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 aircraft earlier this year, the carrier has become the largest airline in Bangladesh by fleet size.
With the additions, the US-Bangla fleet now consists of 24 aircraft, while the national flag carrier Biman has 21.
