Biman Airlines brings back Dhaka-Karachi flights after a 14-year hiatus

Biman launches Dhaka-Karachi flights January 29 after years of severed air links

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Biman last operated regular Dhaka–Karachi flights in 2012.
Gulf News Archive

Dubai: Biman Bangladesh Airlines will resume direct flights between Dhaka and Karachi on January 29, reconnecting the two capitals after more than a decade without service. Biman last operated regular Dhaka–Karachi flights in 2012. The route launches twice weekly on Thursdays and Saturdays, with evening departures from Dhaka arriving in Karachi after three hours. Return flights leave Pakistan's largest city at midnight, landing back in Dhaka before dawn. The move follows improved diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan following political changes in Dhaka in 2024.

Flights fill gap left by history

Direct air links between Dhaka and Karachi disappeared years ago. Pakistan International Airlines ran the route until financial losses forced suspension in 2018. Relations between the two countries stayed tense through multiple governments, leaving passengers to route through Middle Eastern hubs with long layovers.

Improved ties open travel corridor

Bangladesh-Pakistan relations warmed significantly after the 2024 student-led uprising ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar visited Dhaka in August, marking the highest-level engagement in over a decade and leading to the signing of trade and diplomatic agreements. Cargo ships now sail directly from Karachi to Chittagong Port, and Pakistan's AirSial gained approval for flights to Bangladesh.

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority granted Biman a three-month operating permit valid until March 26, giving both sides time to test demand. The flag carrier timed the launch after suspending Manchester flights temporarily to prioritise Hajj operations. That decision freed capacity while diplomatic progress created the opening for Karachi service.

What travellers need to know

Dhaka departures leave at 8 pm on Thursdays and Saturdays, landing in Karachi at 11 pm. Return flights depart at midnight, arriving in Dhaka at 4.20 am. Modern widebody or narrowbody jets handle the roughly 3,300-kilometre route.

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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