The 45-minute international flight from Chittagong to Kolkata will be the first of its kind by a private airline in Bangladesh.

GMG's 37-seater Dash 8-100 aircraft will take off from Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport at 11:00am today and land at Kolkata Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at around 11:45am. High officials of the airline and a group of newsmen will fly the inaugural flight.

GMG Airlines will organise two inauguration ceremonies, one in Chittagong and the other in Kolkata, today to mark the occasion.

State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin and Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri will attend the inauguration ceremony at Chittagong airport.

"It's a memorable occasion for us to have the privilege to operate the first international flight as a private airline of Bangladesh," Managing Director of GMG Airlines Shahab Sattar said.

Starting with three weekly flights on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, GMG Airlines has plans to make it daily between Chittagong and Kolkata. The fare is fixed at $89 (one way). Passengers buying two tickets will get one free in first three flights after the inaugural one.

Currently Biman Bangladesh Airlines operates two weekly flights on Chittagong-Kolkata route. Monthly passengers in the Biman flights average around 300. The number is considered very low. But GMG Airlines hopes that the passenger volume will up once its quality service is made available.

"When we started in 1998,the yearly domestic passenger volume was about three lakh, which over the years has grown up to over five lakh. It shows that more passengers can be attracted by ensuring a caring service," Sattar told The Daily Star.

GMG Airlines got air transport operating licence on January 13 this year. First the permission was confined to Dhaka-Colombo via Chennai, Dhaka-Male via Colombo and Chittagong-Chiang Mai routes. Later the government permitted them to operate flights also on Chittagong-Kolkata and Dhaka-Kathmandu routes.

GMG Airlines, however, prefers Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-New Delhi routes. "We may procure any plane from a choice list of Boeing 737-500, Airbus 320 and Fokker 100 model, if the government gives us the nod to operate flights on these routes," the MD said.