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GMGBangladesh’s sole private airline to expand international flights

DHAKA, Sept 26, 2006 (UNI) 

Bangladesh’s sole private airline GMG said Tuesday it planned to start three new international flights, just weeks after state carrier Biman cut some destinations abroad to save cash.

‘‘We are going to operate three more international flights to New Delhi, Kathmandu and Bangkok,’’ said Shuvra Kanti Sen Sharma, deputy general manager of GMG Airlines.

The carrier, which competes with state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines, will fly three times a week to the new destinations from the capital Dhaka and twice a week from the southern port city of Chittagong, Sharma told AFP.

The new flights are due to begin on October 20.

This year GMG leased two 153-seat MD-82 passenger jets, to expand its fleet to five.

The company, which began services in 1998, already has three Canadian-built Dash-8 passenger jets. In addition to domestic routes, the carrier currently flies to India’s southeast city of Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta.

GMG is also in talks with Biman to take over some its international routes after the state carrier this month said it would cut all of its loss-making international flights, including to New York, Paris, Frankfurt and Yangon.

Biman reported a record loss of 120 million dollars in the year up to June 30.

Nimish wrote:

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Have GMG expanded their fleet? I thought they were doing the DAC-CCU run via a small turbo-prop, which might not be suitable for flights from DAC-DEL

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