Newstrack

GMG Airlines to fly Mumbai, Chennai from Dhaka

To increase flights and appoint GSA in Delhi

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

Shahab Sattar Managing director, GMG Airlines

With the Air Services Agreement between India and Bangladesh now allowing 61 flights from either side to any metro, Bangladesh-based private international carrier, GMG Airlines now plans to add new routes and increase frequency on the already existing routes in India.

Speaking to Express AviationWorld, Shahab Sattar, managing director, GMG Airlines said, "We would be connecting the cities of Mumbai and Chennai between mid and end-2008 and will also be increasing our frequencies to Kolkata and Delhi soon." Frequencies to Kolkata will increase from the current 18 flights to 21 flights a week and the Indian capital will receive a daily from the current three flights a week from April 2008.

Flights from Dhaka will connect Mumbai thrice and Chennai twice a week and the airline will seek to appoint a GSA in Delhi soon, revealed Sattar. India has been an important market for the airline, and its first international flight from Chittagong connected Kolkata in September 2004. It registers a load factor of 65-70 per cent in this market. "We have agreements with Indian Airlines, Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines in the country and feed traffic from Delhi and Kolkata to various domestic and international routes from India and a marginal rise in our fleet will be an opportunity for us," said Sattar. The airline currently operates MD80 aircraft in the Indian skies and is hoping to introduce B737 aircraft once inducted.