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, Commander in Chief of Independence War of Bangladesh as well as of Muktijuddho in 1971. 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 the designation was seen as a move to stave off pressure by the government. Nevertheless, on 3 November 2002, the airport received its first international arrival. Biman flight BG020 from Kuwait via Abu Dhabi landed at 10:05 with 215 passengers en route to Dhaka. The disembarking passengers on the inaugural flight were greeted by then Finance & Planning Minister, M Saifur Rahman and State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin. For a brief period, Biman also operated a direct service from London but was later re-routed via Dhaka. Additional expansion of the runway and improvements to the runway lighting and airport facilities were commenced in 2004 to enable wide-bodied aircraft to safely land and takeoff from the airport. The South Asia Transport and Trade Facilitation Conference report of 2006 noted that the development of the airport "up to the standards of international airport" to "encourage private sector participation in air transport" were projects that were under consideration by the government. Work started in 2006 to upgrade the terminal facilities to enable handling of international flights. The improvements include construction of a new terminal building, two Jetways and a taxi-way. In May 2007, the foreign affairs adviser, informed journalists that the works were on scheduled for completion in June 2007. He also confirmed that Biman will be operating Hajj flights directly from the airport during the Hajj season later in 2007. However, the runway expansion works had not been completed in June with the foreign affairs adviser indicating in August that "minor dressing work" still remained. The work was finally finished in December 2008. In 2010 the decision was made to construct a refueling station. Construction work began in January 2012. In January 2014 the Project Director Aminul Haq stated that the project was 70% complete. On 1 April 2015, Flydubai resumed foreign airline service to Sylhet with its flight from Dubai–International. Flydubai's introduction of nonstop flights from Dubai became the first international flights to Sylhet since the airport's "international" designation 18 years prior. The service was operated through a codeshare agreement with Bangladeshi airline Regent Airways. However, because Biman Bangladesh Airlines had refused to provide ground handling services, the route was cancelled the next day. Stranded passengers held a demonstration in response on 6 April 2015. On November 2016, Flydubai decided to start its flight again from Sylhet to the Middle East. This flight was ended on 7 September 2018
Expansion and development
Currently there are no direct outbound international flights available from the airport for not having sufficient facilities available. Only a few inbound international flights to Dhaka makes a stopover at the airport. This anomaly should be rectified after a 2 years' long upgradation project of Sylhet airport at a cost of BDT. This includes strengthening of the runway and taxiway for heavy takeoff weight.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
operates some domestic services between Sylhet and Dhaka which arrive from international destinations such as Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Manchester, Muscat and London–Heathrow thus providing a direct inbound only service to Sylhet from those cities. Outbound from Sylhet to those cities involve a domestic flight to Dhaka and continuing on using an international one. However, Biman's only direct international flight to Dubai–International from Sylhet was also suspended on 25 October 2019, due to the renovation work at the airport, only one and a half years after it started operation.
Cargo
Accidents and incidents
On 22 December 1997, Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG-609 carrying 85 passengers and 4 crew, operated by a Fokker F28-4000, crashed onto a paddy field 5.6 kilometres from the foot of the runway in heavy fog, on final approach from Dhaka. 17 passengers were injured.
On 8 October 2004, Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG-601 carrying 79 passengers and 4 crew, operated by a Fokker F28-4000, inbound from Dhaka overran the wet runway and ended up in a ditch. Two passengers were injured.
