By NNN-Bernama
New Delhi : Taking advantage of the increasing tourism and migrant workers seeking jobs in Malaysia, the Bangladesh domestic carrier, Best Air, is gearing up to launch its maiden flight to Kuala Lumpur in early March.
Haider Uzzaman, chairman of Best Aviation Ltd, the parent company of Best Air, said Wednesday that the airline was awaiting final approval from the Bangladesh Civil Aviation Department, which was expected anytime soon.
“We will operate seven flights a week from March and expect an 80 to 90 per cent load factor. Our 737-200 Boeing aircraft and crew are all ready for the first flight to Kuala Lumpur,” he told Bernama when contacted in Dhaka.
There are an estimated 300,000 Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia while about 40,000 Bangladeshi tourists visit Malaysia every year, making it a potentially lucrative sector for Best Air, which has plans to complement Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) services on the sector.
“We can help the Malaysian government build up tourism, transport and manpower, and there are also about 2,000 Bangladeshis under the Malaysia-My-Second-Home programme in Malaysia.
“In addition, we can help MAS in terms of long haul flights, because we can carry traffic to Kuala Lumpur and beyond as we have an interline agreement,” added Uzzaman.
Best Air’s right to fly to Kuala Lumpur will be a bilateral arrangement as, in return, Malaysia’s long-haul, low-cost carrier AirAsia X, will fly to Dhaka soon.
Besides the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route, Best Air will also be flying to Bangkok, Chennai, Kolkata and Kunming in China from April.
Best Aviation began operations in 1999 as a helicopter operator but moved into the passenger airline business last year after forming a strategic joint venture with Kuwait’s Al Aqeelah Investment Group, which owns a lion’s share of the venture.
Best Air will have as a competitor GMG Airlines, another private Bangladesh carrier that also plies regional routes.