Scheduled for January 29, with twice-weekly services, restoring the Pakistan-Bangladesh air link
Pakistan and Bangladesh will resume direct flights after more than a decade, Dhaka’s national airline said Thursday, as ties warm and regional balances of power shift.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines is scheduled to operate its first flight from Karachi to Dhaka on January 29 and will operate twice a week, the first scheduled flights since 2012.
“We are relaunching the Karachi-Dhaka route with two weekly flights,” said airline director Bosra Islam. AFP THURSDAY.
Pakistan and Bangladesh – geographically divided by more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) by India – were once a single nation. They separated after a bitter war in 1971.
“The resumption of direct flights will significantly improve connectivity between Pakistan and Bangladesh, promoting business travel, tourism and family reunions,” Biman Bangladesh Airlines said in a statement.
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Travelers between Pakistan and Bangladesh currently have to use connecting flights via Gulf hubs such as Dubai and Doha.
Bangladesh has been gripped by political unrest since a student-led revolt toppled Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, ending 15 years of autocratic rule.
Relations between Bangladesh and India, Hasina’s former ally, turned frosty after her ouster, while ties with Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country, have warmed.
Cargo ships resumed sailing from Karachi to Bangladesh’s key port Chittagong in November 2024.
Since then, trade has grown and cultural ties have grown, with popular Pakistani singers performing in Dhaka, while Bangladeshi patients travel to Pakistan for medical treatment.
