Bangladesh's GMG Airlines has secured government approval to become the country's first privately owned passenger carrier to operate international services.
GMG has been awarded rights to serve a handful of secondary points in India, the Maldives, Thailand and Sri Lanka, on Dhaka-Chennai-Colombo, Dhaka-Colombo-Male and Chittagong-Chiang Mai routings. The award of the rights came around six months after Bangladesh's Cabinet said it had given "in-principle" approval for private airlines to operate cross-border operations.
GMG says it is in talks with leasing companies to add two Airbus A320s or Boeing 737-300s to its fleet, which comprises only Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8 turboprops. It says it expects to launch international services within six months.
GMG was launched early in 1998 by the local GMG Group following a deregulation of the local air transport sector. Although other private operators were set up in the 1990s, only GMG remains as a domestic competitor to national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
In 2001, GMG won approval for limited international services but had those rights withdrawn after a change in government.
Source: Airline Business
