US-Bangla Airlines has started daily direct flights from Dhaka and Chattogram to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
A Boeing 737-800 with 174 passengers took off from Chattogram to Abu Dhabi at 5:50 pm on Friday as the maiden US-Bangla flight, says a press release.
The flight was scheduled to reach Abu Dhabi at 9:10 pm local time on Friday, and will fly to Dhaka at 10:10 pm local time from Abu Dhabi and land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 4:50 am on Saturday. Abu Dhabi is US-Bangla Airlines' third destination in the UAE.
The airline plans to operate direct flights on the Dhaka-Abu Dhabi route on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and the Dhaka-Chattogram-Abu Dhabi route on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Officials of the US Bangla hope that the decision to operate US-Bangla flights to Abu Dhabi will further strengthen the ties between Bangladesh and the UAE.
Senior officials of US-Bangla Airlines bid farewell to the passengers in Dhaka and Chattogram before the Abu Dhabi flight.
Md Kamrul Islam, general manager (public relations) of the US Bangla, said that now they are operating flights to 12 international destinations, including Abu Dhabi, of nine countries.
Other destinations are Dubai, Sharjah, Muscat, Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Male, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Kolkata and Chennai.
US-Bangla Airlines is also operating domestic flights especially from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar, Chattogram, Sylhet, Saidpur, Jashore and Rajshahi.
The airline has increased the number of its flights to 11 per week with additional four flights from April 19 on Dhaka-Chennai route.
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