Pakistan and Bangladesh are set to resume direct flights after a near 14-year-long hiatus, with flights from Dhaka to Karachi officially resuming on January 29, in a significant recalibration of diplomatic relations between the two countries under the interim govt of Chief Advisor Md Yunus.
The first direct flight from Dhaka will arrive in Karachi at 11pm, and will be travelling via Indian airspace, making travel much easier for both countries, as up until now, passengers wishing to travel to either side had to depend on connecting flights through locations such as Dubai or Doha, in order to bypass the Indian airspace, making the journey excessively time and money-consuming.
Bangladesh’s national carrier, Biman Airlines, recently unveiled its Karachi-bound flight schedule, according to which, the inaugural flight, BG-341, will depart Dhaka for Karachi at 8pm on January 29, and is scheduled to land in Karachi at 11pm after transiting Indian airspace. The return flight, BG-342, will depart Karachi for Dhaka at 12:01am.
Travel agents report on both sides reported widespread public enthusiasm, following the restoration of air links, with all seats on initial flights getting sold out within just a few hours of Biman Airlines’ opening its flight bookings.
In the initial phase, two weekly flights on the Dhaka-Karachi route will be operated on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Before this, the last direct flight from Bangladesh to Karachi operated in 2012.
The Civil Aviation Authority, acting on government directives, granted Biman Airlines permission to operate direct flights to Karachi a few days ago.
Apart from civil aviation, an agreement has also been penned between Pakistan International Airlines and Biman Airlines for cargo transportation, adding in a financial aspect to the bilateral aviation.
Biman Airlines has been granted permission to operate these flights until March 30, 2026 and will be using Pakistan’s airspace along the approved route.
The development comes amid the increasingly waning political relations between India and Bangladesh, which have escalated to the point of near-cold hostility, following the rampant rise of Islamism, minority persecution, and virulent peddling of anti-India rhetoric from Bangladeshi officials, and activist groups under CA Yunus’ leadership.
