Flights on the Dhaka-Jeddah route will be operated every day of the week 3m Bangladeshis work in Saudi Arabia, hundreds of thousands visit for Hajj, Umrah DHAKA: US-Bangla Airlines, the largest airline in Bangladesh by fleet size, has launched direct flights from Dhaka to Jeddah amid an increasing demand for travel to Saudi Arabia. The inaugural flight was launched by Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Faruk Khan on Thursday evening. “We launched the Dhaka-Jeddah flight as a part of our long-term expansion plan,” Kamrul Islam, the carrier’s general manager, told Arab News. “Focusing on the Jeddah route, we have introduced Airbus in our fleets with 436 seat capacity. Inshallah, in the coming days, we will operate flights to other destinations of the Kingdom, like Riyadh and Dammam.” The flights from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Jeddah are operated every day of the week on an Airbus 330 aircraft. The airline is tapping into the growing market for Middle East travel. Flights to Saudi Arabia have been too few to accommodate the needs of some 3 million Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom. “There is a huge demand for (flights) from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries,” Islam said. Bangladeshi workers in Saudia Arabia “have long demanded to launch flights to the Kingdom, and with this Jeddah flight, we tried to fulfill their demands also,” he added. The plan is also to serve hundreds of thousands of pilgrims traveling for the annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. “From the very first flight to Jeddah, we began carrying the Umrah passengers. With the launching of flight operations to Jeddah, we have included a plan to carry our Hajj pilgrims along with Bangladesh’s national flag carrier Biman. It will ease our pilgrims’ journey to the holy land,” Islam said. Last year, a huge demand for airplane tickets from Bangladesh to the Middle East during the Hajj season resulted in skyrocketing prices, preventing many prospective pilgrims from embarking on the spiritual journey. Founded in 2010, US-Bangla Airlines started as a domestic carrier and has lately expanded its routes to go international. It currently serves 13 destinations in 10 countries. With its latest acquisition of new Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 aircraft earlier this year, the carrier became the largest airline in Bangladesh by fleet size. With the additions, the US-Bangla fleet now consists of 24 aircraft, while the national flag carrier Biman has 21.