The government is going to resume London and Manchester direct flight from the Osmani International Airport, Sylhet by April this year. Civil Aviation and Tourism ministry secretary confirmed this while he was speaking at a seminar as a special guest in the capital recently. He said, “Osmani airport’s runway is being upgraded to international standard. We are hopeful that we will be able to resume the flight on Sylhet-London route within April”.
In this regard, the authority concerned is working to upgrade the existing runway, construct the new terminal, taxiway and warehouse, and conduct other development works at the airport at a cost of around Tk 400 crore. Airport manager Mohammad Hasib Ahmed told The Bangladesh Post that, “As per the work order the development work deadline is June 2020, but the concerned contractor will be able to complete the runway expansion work before April and we are optimistic that we will be able to operate London- Manchester flight by April”.
As per the airport project information, it was learned that the authority is expanding the runway so that long haul aircraft can be operated directly from there. To this regard, civil aviation and tourism state minister Md Mahbub Ali recently said, “We are aiming to upgrade the airport to such stage from where we will be able to operate Boeing Dreamliner 787, 777 aircraft”.
On the other hand, once the direct flight operation is resumed, cargo flight will also be resumed. As per the air carrier information, each passenger flight would facilitate to carry 15-tonnes of cargo from Sylhet. This will help boost trade and commerce between Bangladesh and the UK.
More than 500000 people of Sylhet division are living in London, the United Kingdom (UK). This is their long-cherished expectation, which is going to take shape within the next two months. Once the direct flight is introduced on this route, this will help reduce the sufferings of this region’s people living in the UK, opined the experts.
The national flag carrier of the country used to operate direct flight to London from Sylhet. But the authority concerned had to suspend the flight operation on this route on December 15, 2011, due to low visibility occurred from the fog. They were supposed to restart their flight operation on February 1, 2012. However, due to unknown reasons regular flight operation is yet to resume from the Osmani International Airport.