Bangladesh to commence direct flight from Dhaka to Karachi after 14 years

Karachi: A special ceremony will be held on Thursday night at the Karachi airport to celebrate a direct flight between Pakistan and Bangladesh, restoring non-stop air connectivity between the two countries after over a decade.

A state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight G-341 from Dhaka will land at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi at 11 pm, aviation sources said. This would be the first direct Dhaka–Karachi flight since 2012.

The development comes amid growing bonhomie between Bangladesh and Pakistan after prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted following massive student-led protests in Bangladesh on August 5, 2024.

Aviation sources said a special ceremony will be held to celebrate the occasion.

The airlines will operate flights between Dhaka and Karachi twice a week and has been given license until March 30 to test the waters before a long-term permission is given to the airlines, the sources added.

Earlier, the airline, in a statement in Dhaka earlier this week, said, the Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate on the Dhaka-Karachi route on Thursdays and Saturdays.

The flight will depart Dhaka at 8:00 pm local time and arrive in Karachi at 11:00 pm. The return flight will depart Karachi at 12:00 midnight and arrive in Dhaka at 4:20 am.

Currently, passengers travelling between the two countries largely depend on connecting flights through hubs such as Dubai or Doha.

Pakistan and Bangladesh governments have been discussing the resumption of direct flights between Dhaka and Karachi since last year in a bid to boost trade and other ties after years of strained relations.

Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Plans to restart direct flights between Bangladesh and Pakistan were first announced in August last year during the visit of Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to Dhaka.

Dar's visit to Dhaka was the first such high-level engagement between Pakistan and Bangladesh in over a decade.

The re-launch follows formal approval from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, which has cleared Biman to operate on the route and to use designated air corridors within Pakistani airspace, the officials said.