China Southern Airlines Company Limited will open Dhaka-Guangzhou flight, NovoAir, the airline's Bangladeshi General Sales Agent said on June 8.

Mofizur Rahman, managing director of NovoAir told Xinhua in an interview that they are hopeful the inaugural flight will be on July 5 if the concerned authorities of the Bangladeshi government complete all the procedures for opening the flight.

Rahman said the economic relationship between China and Bangladesh has developed a lot during the last few years, more and more Bangladeshi businessmen are doing business with China.

"The opening of Dhaka-Guangzhou flight will provide convenience to those businessmen as most of their businesses are based in southern China," he said.

"Every year more than 10,000 Bangladeshis participate in Canton Fair. It will be easy for the Bangladeshi participants to go to Canton Fair if the Dhaka-Guangzhou route opens," he added.

According to China Southern Airlines, there will be 3 flights at the beginning. "We fly from Dhaka to Guangzhou on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and fly from Guangzhou to Dhaka on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays," Gao Bo, China Southern Airlines Bangladesh representative, told Xinhua on June 8.

"It will be a direct flight. It takes about 3 hours and 10 minutes from Dhaka to Guangzhou," he added.

Kamrul Islam, director of Flight Safety and Regulations of Civil Aviation Authorities of Bangladesh, told Xinhua on phone, all procedures for opening the flight are likely to be completed by the end of this month.

In 2005, China Eastern Airlines landed in Bangladesh with the opening of Dhaka-Kunming flight.