Online Desk: The Biman Bangladesh Airlines has resumed direct flights to Italy’s Rome.

The inaugural flight took off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 3:30 am on Tuesday and reached Rome at 8:30 am (local time).

The Dhaka-Rome-Dhaka direct flight resumed after nine years, prompted by a large number of expatriate Bangladeshis residing in Italy.

“As per our market analysis, the Dhaka-Rome-Dhaka route will be another popular one, like our London (UK), Toronto (Canada), and Narita (Japan) routes,” said Biman MD and CEO Shafiul Azim.

Sazzadul Hassan MP, Chairman parliamentary committee on the affairs of ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism formally inaugurated the flight as the chief guest along with Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Antonio Alessandro.

According to the booking information Tuesday, 23 people have purchased tickets for Business Class while 177 for Economy Class.

The capacity of the aircraft is 271 passengers, including 24 in business class and 247 in economy class.

The Dhaka to Rome flight will be Biman’s third European destination, as currently the national flag carrier is operating flights to London and Manchester.

After the announcement of the Rome flight the visa applications to Italy have increased three fold, the Biman CEO said referring to the Italian Embassy in Dhaka.

Azim said he is also planning to use Rome as a stopover for Biman’s Dhaka-Toronto-Dhaka flight, as currently the state-owned carrier is using Istanbul for refuelling its Canada-bound flights.

Bangladesh Biman initially began operating flights to Rome on April 2, 1981 and stopped on April 6, 2015, facing financial losses due to massive fuel consumption by the then DC-10 carrier.

Between March 27 and March 31, flight BG-355 will depart Dhaka every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 2:00 a.m. local time and reach Rome at 7:00 a.m. local time.

From April 1, the flight will take off from Dhaka every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 3:00am as per the summer schedule and arrive at the capital of Italy at 9:10am.

The flight will leave Rome at 10:45 am and land in Dhaka at 11:45 pm.