I have been hearing about launching direct flight from Cairo to Dhaka for 25 years. A long time ago, a Bangladesh Biman delegation came to Egypt and announced the launch of Dhaka-Cairo-Dhaka flight. But he did not see the face of the announcement and reality.

Finally, Allo Aviation of Bangladesh has come forward to launch a direct flight from Cairo to Dhaka with the national Egyptian flag carrier EgyptAir. In August last year, a direct flight agreement was signed between EgyptAir and Allo Aviation of Bangladesh with the mediation of Bangladesh Embassy in Egypt.

Initially, two official announcements were made in a week from November 1. But later due to various complications, the Cairo-Dhaka flight could not be launched on time.

Last week at the Sheraton Hotel in the capital Cairo in the presence of expatriate Bangladeshis and diplomats from different countries in the celebration of the Bengali New Year in Bangladesh. Ambassador Monirul Islam and Allo Aviation CEO Saeed Ali Shami jointly cut the cake by announcing the opening of the Dhaka-Cairo direct flight.

Before the event began, I spoke with Saeed Al Shamir, Managing Director of Allo Aviation, the CEO of Egypt Year. He said that although the holy Eid-ul-Fitr is not before the Eid-ul-Fitr Cairo-Dhaka flight.

He said, “My company and I always try to do something for the country, how to move the country’s tourism and aviation sector forward. We want to deepen our relationship with Egypt. As part of that, we have completed all the procedures for direct Dhaka-Cairo flight and we hope to be able to operate the flight after Eid-ul-Fitr.

“Apart from that, we will be able to connect Washington DC, New York, Toronto, France, Italy and other European countries as connecting flights,” he added.

Ambassador Monirul Islam said, “Being able to fulfill a long cherished dream of Bangladeshis living in Egypt has really created a different feeling inside me. This will make it possible to attract more foreign tourists to Bangladesh’s aviation and tourism sector and save both time and money.

Egyptian Deputy Minister for Tourism Gada Al-Shahalbi, who was the chief guest at the New Year celebrations, highlighted Egypt’s strong ties with Bangladesh since independence and said, “We are working not only on flights but also on cultural exchanges with Bangladesh.”

Many expatriate Bangladeshis in Egypt are eagerly waiting for the direct flight from Cairo to Dhaka to reach their beloved homeland Bangladesh in just 6 hours.