CHENNAI: In a bid to tap the rising number of Bangladeshis visiting Chennai for health tourism, US-Bangla Airlines, a private airline based in Bangladesh, will be operating three weekly flights from here beginning Sunday. This will be the second carrier connecting Dhaka apart from the existing Maldivian Airlines.
A senior official from the airport said the airline will be connecting Dhaka to Chennai via Chittagong.”There will be services on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday through its 164-seater Boeing aircraft and this was also included in the summer schedule of the airport,” he added. The bookings are already open in the website with flights connecting Chittagong and then to Dhaka, which takes over an hour to reach.
The minimum round-trip fare of Dhaka-Chennai-Dhaka has been fixed at Rs 19,500 while it is hovering in the same price for Chattogram-Chennai-Chattogram route, according to the website.
Flight BS 205 will leave Dhaka at 9.10 am and reach Chennai at 12.45 pm and transit at Chittagong around 10.45 am. On the return sector, flight BS 206 will leave Chennai at 1.30 pm and reach Dhaka at 6 pm. The arrival in Chittagong will be at 4.30 pm.
According to H Ubaidullah, an independent aviation consultant, the passengers to Chennai from various cities of Bangladesh, have been increasing over the years as medical tourism in the country is becoming affordable. He further added that several carriers flying to the country are even offering special medical packages for patients.
The US-Bangla airways has also tied up with Apollo Hospitals offering special medical packages for the patient who can avail the offer, said a senior official from the airport.