International air travel to go private

This new initiative is to be welcomed for a number of reasons. Most crucially, what it indicates is that the Civil Aviation Authority has finally fully accepted the idea that expanded private air travel would be of benefit to the consumer, and is acting on this understanding.

This permission for the expansion of the services offered by private airlines can only be of benefit to the customers, and in addition to offering more frequent flights than are available at present, will also, due to greater competition, hopefully have the effect of lowering prices and improving services on our national carrier and the other airlines that currently ply the Bangladesh-India route.

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A further benefit of the Civil Aviation Authority's permission to GMG to operate internationally is that it paves the way for discussion of an open sky policy between Bangladesh and India, which can only be of mutual benefit to both countries, and which can be used as a blueprint for similar arrangements with other regional countries.

Indeed, just such an understanding was reached at a meeting between the respective aviation authorities of Bangladesh and India earlier this week, and such a policy will also be advanced, and the consumers will also correspondingly benefit, if India's private airlines such as Jet and Sahara are permitted to operate flights to Bangladesh, as they have expressed interest in doing.

Ultimately, opening up Bangladeshi and Indian airspace to airlines from the other country should go a long way towards greater mutual cooperation which is always a worthy goal, and, if a success, can be expanded to the entire region, which, in today's interdependent world, would be beneficial to everyone.

The Civil Aviation Authority's granting of permission to a private airline to operate internationally is a good first step.