Direct flights between Dhaka and Hanoi are set to launch within October as two aviation companies from Vietnam and Bangladesh are at the final stage of negotiation.
“After our persistent hard work, finally two aviation companies are at the final stage of negotiation to start the flights within next October,” Bangladesh Ambassador in Vietnam Samina Naz told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday.
Huong Giang Aviation from Vietnam and US Bangla Airlines from Bangladesh are finalizing the direct link deal.
Huong Giang Aviation CEO and Founder Ngo Minh Thien is visiting Dhaka at the moment with senior officials and business groups from Vietnam. They had a “fruitful meeting” Wednesday at the US-Bangla headquarters in Dhaka.
“It has been a long effort for us to get a direct air route. And we the Bangladesh embassy in Vietnam and myself are very happy that finally we have been able to connect the two aviation companies for a direct airlink,” the ambassador said.
“It will certainly add great momentum to the ever-growing trade between us and further boost people to people connectivity and overall Bangladesh, Vietnam bilateral relations,” she said.
“When I joined the Bangladesh Embassy five years ago, the two-way trade was only $6 million. Now it stands at $1.5 billion, more than double. For business to grow further, direct air cargo will contribute immensely,” she hoped.
Ambassador Naz will soon leave Vietnam to take up her new assignment as the next ambassador of Bangladesh to Egypt.
Currently, 32 Vietnamese companies have offices in Dhaka. The businesses include jute, pharmaceutical, consumer products, IT sector, appreral sector investments, building industrial park infrastructure, and construction materials, among others.
Packaged medicines, scrap iron, and jute yarn are the biggest Bangladesh's exports to Vietnam, while broadcasting equipment, cement, and gravel and crushed stone are the biggest Vietnam's exports to Bangladesh.
