October 14, 2007	Sunday	Shawwal 1, 1428

DHAKA, Oct 13: A fourth private airline is set to take off in Bangladesh amid a boom in the air travel market following the scrapping of flights by the state-run airline, an official said on Saturday.

Royal Bengal Airlines, owned by London-based Bangladeshi expatriates, will start flying domestic routes within four weeks and a London-Dhaka flight via the Middle East would begin by year end, said the company’s director Abdus Shukur.

The airline has purchased one Dash-8 aircraft and will add another within a month to operate flights to southeastern Chittagong and notheastern Sylhet from the capital Dhaka, he said.

It was also negotiating with a London-based airline to lease a 400-seater Boeing 747 to operate long-haul flights, he added.

“We see a booming air travel market in Bangladesh and the market is very much under-served,” Shukur said.—AFP