The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Best Air, country's new private airliner, will start its operation on January 14, 2008 with Boeing 737, the first ever in Bangladesh, through a flight from Dhaka to Chittagong.

At the initial stage, the company will start its operation with one Boeing 737 aircraft, which has a capacity of 118 passengers.

In each of their flight they would provide a free seat for the freedom fighters and Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus will avail the free seat whenever he travels.

M Haider Uzzaman, Chairman of Best Air, disclosed this at the unveiling ceremony of Boeing 737 fleet air at a city hotel yesterday.

He said, "By the middle of the next month, another Boeing 737 will be added to the fleet. The Boeing 737 airplane is the most sought-after passenger carrier aircraft of all times."

The plan of the Best Air is to operate flights between Dhaka and other domestic and international destinations, including Chittagong and Sylhet in Bangladesh, Kolkata and Chennai in India, Bangkok in Thailand and Kunming in China in the first phases, he mentioned.

In the second phase it will include the Far East, the Middle East, Europe and the USA by using 'Wide Bodied Aircraft,' he said and adding, "The first leg of operations will be Dhaka-Chittagong and others will follow suit shortly."

Best Aviation started its operations in 1999 as a helicopter operator and it started as a 'Freighter Airline' in 2000. Best Air has been operating different types of freighter in the domestic and international sectors, said Haider Uzzaman.

Best Air obtained license in 2006 from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh to operate passenger service in the international and domestic sectors, he added.

Group Capt (Retd) M Alamgir, Head of Operations of Best Air, Farhad Hossain, Head of Marketing and Sales, M Moniruzzaman, Head of Customer Service, among others, were present at the conference.