India keen to strengthen aviation ties with Bangladesh: envoy

India is keen to team up with Bangladesh to develop and modernise the civil aviation industry, amid increasing air traffic between the two neighbours.

“Growth in air traffic needs to be supported by adequate aviation infrastructure. India can partner with Bangladesh to execute projects being planned to develop and modernise the civil aviation infrastructure in the country,” Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla said yesterday.

Presently, around 100 flights are operated weekly between India and Bangladesh, connecting various Indian cities, including New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai from Dhaka and Chittagong, he added.

“More airlines from both the countries are launching or planning to launch flights between India and Bangladesh. There is also interest in launching flights to new destinations such as Guwahati in Assam,” Shringla said.

He spoke at the launch of Novoair's flights on the Dhaka-Kolkata route at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital yesterday.

Dhaka-Kolkata is the second international route for private carrier Novoair, which had kicked off its maiden international flight on the Dhaka-Yangon route a year ago.

India has proposed an open sky policy on a reciprocal basis to promote tourism, people-to-people contacts and trade, he added.

The increasing interest of airlines on routes between India and Bangladesh could not have come at a less opportune moment, he said, adding that India-Bangladesh trade and commercial ties are on an upward trajectory today.

The bilateral trade has registered a substantial increase over the last few years, while companies from both India and Bangladesh are exploring new opportunities for investing and setting up joint ventures in each other's country, he said.

In an effort to increase people-to-people contacts, the Indian envoy said, “We have made efforts to streamline the visa issuing process.”

The number of visas issued this year would cross 1 million and would far exceed the number of visas issued last year, he said.

As a result, Bangladesh has become one of the biggest sources of tourist arrivals in India, he said.

In this context, he said new flights between different destinations in India and Bangladesh will give further boost to trade, tourism, cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts and sustain the momentum towards closer ties.

“Entry of more airlines will also foster greater competition, thereby generating more value for the customers.”

It is their endeavour to improve connectivity between India and Bangladesh by creating multimodal transport links and facilitating easy cross-border movement of goods and people, and the launch of the Novoair flight is an important step towards meeting this objective, said the envoy.

Novoair, which started operations in 2013, will operate four flights a week from Dhaka to Kolkata.

The airline will fly from Dhaka on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at 2:25pm and arrive in Kolkata at 3pm, while it will fly from Kolkata at 4pm and arrive in Dhaka at 5:35pm (local time).

The promotional fare of a two-way Dhaka-Kolkata ticket, including taxes and surcharges, will start from Tk 9,999.

The airlines will also start direct flights from Chittagong to Kolkata on December 14.

At present, Novoair has three EMB-145 jets and three ATR 72-500 aircraft in its fleet.

On the domestic front, it flies to Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet, Jessore, Saidpur, Rajshahi and Barisal.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh's Chairman Air Vice-Marshal Ehsanul Gani Choudhury and Novoair's Managing Director Mofizur Rahman were also present at the function.