Community leaders and expatriates have raised serious concerns over persistent service shortcomings, high ticket disparities, and sluggish expansion works at Sylhet's Osmani International Airport. Originally established during World War II in 1944–1945 to counter Japanese aggression and later named after Independence War General M. A. G. Osmani, the facility was officially inaugurated as an international airport on November 3, 2002. Despite handling hundreds of thousands of expatriates across the UK, USA, and Middle East, critics point to a lack of regular foreign carriers, suspended cargo operations, and exorbitant ticket pricing where flights from London to Sylhet cost significantly more than equivalent routes to Dhaka.

Prominent community figures, including weekly Bangla Post Chairman Sheikh Mofijur Rahman Faruk and former ATAB leader Abdul Jabbar Jalil, emphasized that upgrading infrastructure, establishing free passenger lounges, and launching full international flights would immensely boost regional tourism, trade, and national revenue amidst an ongoing modernization project delayed past its initial timelines.