DHAKA: Emirates, a global connector of people and places, is celebrating 30 years of connecting Bangladesh to the world.
To mark the milestone, the airline hosted a reception attended by local media and travel trade partners at a city hotel today while Khalid Ali J. Hassan, Emirates Area Manager for Bangladesh delivered the welcome speech.
Saeed bin Hajar Al Shahi, UAE Ambassador of Bangladesh, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Media Affairs Advisor to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Govt. of Bangladesh, Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul, President, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) also spoke on the occasion. Editors and senior reporters from print, electronic and online media, as well as representatives of the airline’s trade partners graced the occasion.
“Our 30 years of operating in Bangladesh has been a remarkable journey. It is fair to say that no other international airline has been as closely engaged with the people of Bangladesh and their travel aspirations, or with the country’s economic growth, as Emirates has.” said Khalid J. Hassan, Emirates Area Manager for Bangladesh.
“The importance of Emirates global destinations to Bangladesh’s tourism and export industries in particular, cannot be over-emphasised. And, as the airline continues to expand its network, Bangladesh will be able to access new markets and leisure destinations.”
Emirates began flights between Dubai and Dhaka on 27 October 1986, a year after the airline commenced its operations. Dhaka was the 7th destination to be linked to Dubai, after Karachi, Mumbai, New Delhi, Colombo, Cairo and Amman. The airline started with two weekly flights between Dubai and Dhaka.
Presently Emirates operates 21 weekly flights from Dhaka to Dubai, linking Bangladesh to a vast global network of 150 destinations across six continents.
Emirates is the first airline to introduce scheduled freighter service to the port city of Chittagong in 2012 and to introduce Bangladeshi movie in their in-flight entertainment program (ice).
Since 2008, Emirates has been sponsoring the floating Emirates Friendship Hospital, which serves the remote and isolated population in the char areas of the country. Emirates has a credit of sponsoring national cricket league and training camp for youth footballers in the past. Besides, the airline has been associated with a number of social and humanitarian projects in Bangladesh.
The function ended up with a cake cutting ceremony and a raffle draw for the media representatives. Two winners of the raffle draw received return economy class tickets to Barcelona and Zagreb.
BDST: 2140 HRS, MAR 15, 2017
AP
