Flydubai will commence direct flights between Dubai and Sylhet on March 15, making it the airline’s third destination in Bangladesh after Chittagong and Dhaka.

The new service will see flydubai provide up to 27 flights a week to Bangladesh.

The service to Sylhet, also known as Jalalabad, will begin with four flights a week and is set to increase to six flights a week from May 16. The operation to Sylhet Osmani International Airport is in partnership with Bangladesh carrier Regent Airways.

Commenting on the new announcement, Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive officer at flydubai, said: “We are happy to be relaunching flights to Sylhet, an important cultural and trade centre in Bangladesh. We remain committed to strengthening air links between the UAE and underserved markets. We look forward to seeing more people choose our reliable and affordable service between Dubai and our growing network in Bangladesh.”

Flydubai serves a wide network of destinations in the Subcontinent. This network covers eight points in India, five points in Pakistan, three points in Bangladesh, two points in Sri Lanka as well as the capital cities of Afghanistan and Nepal with flights to Kabul and Kathmandu respectively.

“Since we began operations to Dhaka and Chittagong at the beginning of 2011, we have seen strong demand for flights to Bangladesh,” said Sudhir Sreedharan, senior vice president commercial for GCC, Subcontinent and Africa at flydubai. “We are confident that our passengers from Sylhet will benefit from our direct flights to Dubai and beyond, via Dubai’s efficient aviation hub, especially on to our strong GCC network which is served by up to 650 weekly flights to 18 points.”

Economy Class return fares from Dubai to Sylhet will start at Dh1,500 ($408.3) including 7kg hand baggage, while Business Class return fares will start at Dh2,700 ($734.9) and are inclusive of all taxes and 40kg checked baggage.

Economy Class return fares from Sylhet to Dubai will start at $550 including 7kg hand baggage, while Business Class return fares will start at $900 and are inclusive of all taxes and 40kg checked baggage.

With the announcement of the launch of flights to Batumi in Georgia, Qabala in Azerbaijan and Tivat in Montenegro, earlier in February, flydubai’s network has expanded to 93 destinations in 44 countries. This now sees the airline operate to 62 destinations that previously had no or very few direct air links from the UAE. - TradeArabia News Service