THE lifting of restrictions on flights to and from Bangladesh has been welcomed tonight by a former Transport minister whose East London constituency includes Britain’s biggest Bengali community
THE lifting of restrictions on flights to and from Bangladesh has been welcomed tonight by a former Transport minister whose East London constituency includes Britain’s biggest Bengali community.
It follows a deal between the two governments to operate more flights to any part of either country.
This paves the way for direct flights from the Sylhet region, from where many of the Britain’s large Bangladeshi community come from.
Former Transport Department minister Jim Fitzpatrick, the Poplar & Canning Town MP with its large Sylheti community, said: “This is great news for those wishing to fly to Sylhet.”
The deal announced today trebles the number of flights between the two countries from 10 a week to 31 and allows airlines to operate from any UK airport to anywhere in Bangladesh. It will enable direct flights from Sylhet, as well as other provincial cities such as Chittagong.
The existing restrictions only allowed flights between Heathrow, Manchester and Dhaka.
No British passenger airlines currently fly to Bangladesh. British Airways withdrew its three-times-a-week service last March.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines currently operates five flights a week between Heathrow and Dhaka. United Airways started operating twice a week between Gatwick and Dhaka in November.
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