Bangkok Airways, Thai Smile and Oman Air shutdown their Bangladesh operations due to the route being commercially unviable.
Around 50 Bangladesh people have lost their jobs but there is also revenue losses for the civil aviation. Bangladesh Biman conducts the ground handling works at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and it has lost a source of revenue due to the shutdown.
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Oman Air operated on the Dhaka-Chittagong route for nearly a decade but the Middle Eastern carrier stopped its operations in Chittagong in May last year and from Dhaka five months later.
Bangkok Airways started operations in Dhaka in 2011 and suspended operations in November last year, and Thai Smile, the lower cost option of Thai Airways, in July, after four months of operations.
“Oman Air shut down its operations in Bangladesh and some other places due to commercial reasons,” said Ashraful Kabir, the former country manager of the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman.
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Rising oil price in recent months has made the business difficult, he said. However Oman Air will introduce a low-cost flight from Bangladesh soon.
There are about 30 foreign airlines operating from Bangladesh. All the carriers are from Asia; no European or American airlines have operations here.