Osmani International Airport

MAG Osmani International Airport (IATA: ZYL, ICAO: VGSY) is third largest international airport in the country after Chittagong in Bangladesh. The airport is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) and is served by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national airline which at one point earned most of its revenue from this airport. Private airlines Novoair, United Airways and US-Bangla Airlines operate domestic flights to Dhaka. The vast majority of passengers using the airport are expatriate Bangladeshis and their descendants from the Sylhet Division living in the United Kingdom.

History

Osmani International Airport was built during British rule of the Indian Subcontinent, partly to check Japanese aggression from Burma. The airport was formerly known as Sylhet Civil Airport but was renamed after General M A G Osmani, a Sylheti Bangladeshi Independence War hero.

The airport was initially served by domestic flights from Shahjalal International Airport by the country's national airline Biman Bangladesh Airlines. After many years of lobbying by expatriates living in the UK, limited expansion of the airport was carried out to enable medium-sized aircraft, such as the Airbus A310 used by Biman, to operate. The work was completed in October 2002 and the airport was designated an international airport by the government. However, the airport was not up to international standards to be capable of fully accommodating international flights due to many shortcomings with the instrument landing system and runway lighting system and was seen as a move to stave off pressure by the government.