GMG Airlines from Bangladesh became the 50th carrier to operate at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) coinciding with Malaysia's 50th anniversary of independence. Its inaugural flight to Kuala Lumpur on January 24 marks a significant milestone in tourism cooperation between Malaysia and Bangladesh.

The direct flights thrice weekly from Dhaka to Kuala Lumpur use the 153-seat MD82 aircraft. With this air link, the airline has a platform to extend services to Singapore, the Far East and Australia.

The flight commencement is an opportunity for collaboration between tour and travel industry operators in Bangladesh and Malaysia. GMG Airlines' service is timely in view of the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 celebrations and will attract more Bangladeshis to visit Malaysia for leisure and business as it is also introducing a family holiday package to the Bangladeshi market.

An emerging market, there were 22,743 Bangladeshi tourist arrivals to Malaysia from January to October last year.

Currently, two other airlines serve the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route. Malaysia Airlines flies five times weekly offering a total of 1,470 seats on the A330. Biman Airlines operates four times a week using the B777 and provides another 880 seats.

Present at the welcome dinner for the inaugural flight Z5041 that same night were the Hon. Datuk Ir. Donald Lim, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Malaysia; Dato' Azmi Murad, Senior General Manager Operations of Malaysia Airports; Mr Shahab Sattar, Managing Director of GMG Airlines; and Mr Pardip Kumar Kukreja, Executive Chairman of Grand Paradise Holdings and GSA Carnival Travel Sdn. Bhd.