The country's new private airline 'Air Astra' has started operating commercial flights today. Air Astra first flight 2A 441 left from Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 08:00 am to Cox's Bazar with 100% passengers.

Initially Air Astra will operate 3 flights on Dhaka-Cox's Bazar-Dhaka route and 2 flights on Dhaka-Chittagong-Dhaka route. Through the next 3 months Air Astra will expand operations to all domestic destinations as new aircraft would be added to the fleet. The minimum one-way fare from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar has been fixed at Tk 4800 and the minimum one-way fare from Dhaka to Chittagong has been fixed at Tk 3695.

Air Astra has already taken delivery of 2x ATR 72-600 aircraft at Dhaka and further 2x aircraft are scheduled to be delivered within 2022. By 2023, Air Astra's aircraft fleet will grow to 10 aircraft. The French-built ATR 72-600 is the most modern turboprop in the world today with excellent industry reliability, configured to carry 70 passengers in a comfortable, quiet cabin.