The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

GMG Airlines, the country's largest and leading private airline, launches its Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka service from today (Sunday).

The flight, a 747-300 Boeing aircraft, will leave Dhaka for Dubai at 2:15pm.

Chief Adviser's Special Assistant for Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Jamil is likely to inaugurate the GMG's maiden Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka flight at Zia International Airport as chief guest.

With GMG Airlines launching Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka service, the airlines sources said the new airline would play an important role in giving Bangladesh tourism a much-needed boost.

The GMG Airlines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the GMG Group of Companies, has started its operation to the Middle East with a daily flight to Dubai.

The sources at GMG Airlines, operating domestic, regional, and international services, said that they would launch passenger services to Singapore, Kuwait, Muscat, and Karachi in May 2008, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dammam, Riyadh, and Jeddah in December 2008, and make its European debut with flights to London Heathrow and Milan in the 1st quarter of 2009.

GMG Airlines is the first and only private airline in Bangladesh flying overseas. The airline has 216 flights each week worldwide, while it flies over 8,100 seats internationally per week.

The airline was established in 1997 and started operations on April 6, 1998. It is wholly owned by the industrial conglomerate GMG Group. GMG's current international destinations are Kolkata, Delhi, Kathmandu, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. It began with domestic operations and launched international services on September 8, 2004, with a service from Chittagong to Kolkata. GMG began regular flights to Bangkok, Delhi, and Kathmandu on October 20, 2006. It started services to Kuala Lumpur on January 24, 2007.

GMG Airlines operates services to the following destinations:

In Bangladesh, Barisal (Barisal Airport), Chittagong (Shah Amanat International Airport), Cox's Bazar (Cox's Bazar Airport), Dhaka (Zia International Airport), Jessore (Jessore Airport), Sylhet (Osmani International Airport).

In South Asia, the airline operates flights to Kolkata (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport), New Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport), Kathmandu, Nepal (Tribhuvan International Airport). It will start flight operations to Karachi, Pakistan (Jinnah International Airport) this year.

In Southeast Asia, GMG Airlines has planned to operate flights to

Hong Kong (Hong Kong International Airport), Singapore (Singapore Changi Airport), Kuwait (Kuwait International Airport)

Muscat (Seeb International Airport), Doha (Doha International Airport), Dammam (King Fahd International Airport), Jeddah (King Abdulaziz International Airport), Riyadh (King Khalid International Airport), Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Dubai International Airport),

Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi International Airport), Milan, Italy (Malpensa International Airport), London, United Kingdom (London Heathrow Airport).