MTB wants to be with clients every step of travel

Dhaka : Mutual Trust Bank Ltd wants to be with its clients every step of the way during their travels from check-in to boarding a flight. In this process, the clients get to be on air. Hence, the bank, that leads with the first largest network of airport lounges in the country, has named them Air Lounges.
Md Hedayetul-lah, EC Chair-man of Mutual Trust Bank Ltd said this while talking to The Bangladesh Monitor recently.
Currently, the bank has six state-of-the-art Air Lounges at different airports across the country: one at International Terminal of Dhaka Airport, another at Domestic Terminal while others are at domestic terminals of Chattogram Airport, Sylhet Airport, Saidpur Airport and Cox's Bazar Airport.
The bank brainstormed the idea of opening Air Lounges back in 2015. "With our products, particularly in the service sector, we always aim to offer a better service," said Md Hedayetullah.
However, the term better is very subjective. "Therefore, we thought of adding some value to the service_ specially to the international services of credit cards. And we did it with Air Lounges," he added.
With its first lounge at the International Terminal of Dhaka Airport, MTB started offering its credit card holders a Business Class Lounge and its services for free. At the lounges, guests can enjoy a host of services from eating and relaxing to banking or card services.  
"Airport lounges also add value to the modernisation of airports as it is a great beautification factor," mentioned the EC Chairman of MTB.  
Countrywide, the number of air travellers has increased. People do not want to buy materialistic things anymore. Rather, they prefer to make memories. Hence, travelling has become an integral part of people's lifestyles now.  
Moreover, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, e-commerce or credit card usage has increased by a lot. And MTB has credit card holders in other parts of the country as well besides Dhaka.
"Thus, we felt that presence everywhere is more important than doing something grand somewhere," further mentioned the EC Chairman of MTB, adding, "If we had not expand our Air Lounge countrywide, our card holders from other cities would have been deprived."
This led to the introduction of four more Air Lounges across domestic terminals of Chattogram, Saidpur, Sylhet and Cox's Bazar Airport, the EC Chairman noted.
MTB is now in efforts to form some strategic partnerships with collaborators such as airlines, cards, multinational forums, etc.
MTB Air Lounge at International Terminal of Dhaka Airport already hosts Business Class passengers of US-Bangla. However, since the last two years coronavirus hovered above the aviation industry, the international airlines were not too eager to proceed with new strategic partnerships.
"But now we are in talks with some airlines for hosting more Business Class passengers. We are currently in the process of choosing the right airline," expressed Md Hedayetullah.
About the country's aviation industry, Md Hedayetullah said, it may appears to be small, but it actually has plenty of untapped potential. Even the other airports of the country besides the capital operates 15-19 flights a day.
This shows how huge is the amount of traffic in all airports. The economic development activities that are underway currently across the country will soon increase it even more, foresees Md Hedayetullah.
Hence, MTB wants its presence in maximum places of travel with the bank's exclusive Air Lounges, concluded the EC Chairman of MTB.  
It may be mentioned here, MTB also has the largest Airport ATM network of the country at both Dhaka's international and domestic terminals, Chattogram, Sylhet, Cox's bazar and Saidpur Airports. The bank has three Foreign Exchange booths at Dhaka Airport as well.