Bangladesh flights resume after 14 years

KARACHI:

Direct flights between Bangladesh and Pakistan resumed on Thursday after more than a decade, with the first Biman Bangladesh Airlines landing at Jinnah International Airport on Thursday evening.

In a statement, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said the Bangladeshi carrier returned to Karachi after 14 years and received a traditional water cannon salute upon landing.

The authority hailed the flight as “a new chapter” in relations between the two countries.

Since 2012, travelers between Bangladesh and Pakistan had to use connecting flights through Gulf hubs such as Dubai and Doha.

On Thursday, the national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines left for Karachi, the first scheduled flight since 2012.

Mohammad Shahid, one of 150 passengers on board bound for Karachi, said he was happy to be able to travel more frequently than before, when he could only make the trip once every two or three years.

“We were waiting for such an opportunity because we are traveling continuously,” he told AFP in Dhaka.

“There are so many people waiting in Pakistan to come here, and some waiting here to go.”

Direct flights will now operate twice a week.

Biman said in a statement that their resumption would “play an important role in promoting trade, expanding educational exchanges and strengthening cultural ties between the two countries.”

Ties with Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim country, have warmed since a student-led revolt in Bangladesh toppled Sheikh Hasina in 2024, ending her 15-year autocratic rule.

During the same period, relations between Bangladesh and India, Hasina’s former ally, became frosty.

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 have traveled to Pakistan for medical treatment.

With additions from AFP