Pakistan's AirSial receives approval to operate flights to/from Bangladesh

Dhaka: Following Fly Jinnah, another Pakistani carrier AirSial has received approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) to operate direct flights between Bangladesh and Pakistan.

“We gave clearance to AirSial to operate direct flight between Bangladesh and Pakistan. We have sent letter to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism in this regard,” said CAAB Chairman Md Monjur Kabir Bhuiyan on May 19.

As per standard procedure, the airline will now appoint a General Sales Agent (GSA) in Bangladesh and apply for flight slots accordingly.

AirSial will not only connect Bangladesh and Pakistan, but also will offer Bangladeshi passengers transit options to various international destinations through its network specially to middle eastern countries.

AirSial, a private airline with six Airbus aircraft, based at Sialkot in Pakistan, commenced operations in August 2015.

In February, CAAB has approved Pakistan's private airline, Fly Jinnah, to operate direct flights on the Karachi-Dhaka route.

Earlier, Bangladesh's High Commissioner to Pakistan Md Iqbal Hussain said that if approved, AirSial may be able to commence flights to Dhaka within two months.

However, he said, that Fly Jinnah is currently in the process of expanding its fleet.

The last Pakistani state-owned airline Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) discontinued its flights to and from Bangladesh in 2018.