DHAKA, April 21, 2020 (BSS) – The UK government today started repatriation
of its citizens who opted to go back home from Dhaka amid flight suspension
due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The first batch of 264 stranded British nationals left Hazrat Shahjalal
International Airport (HSIA) here by a special chartered flight of British
Airways.
“The British Airways flight took off from HSIA at 4:05 pm for London
carrying 254 adult and 10 infant British passengers,” HSIA Director Group
Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan told media.
The UK government has arranged another three identical chartered flights of
British Airways on April 23, 25 and 26 to take its citizens, mostly
expatriate Bangladeshis residing in the UK, from Dhaka with accompanying
transfers from Sylhet.
“I am very conscious that the process for arranging these special flights
has been less smooth than we might have wished,” British High Commissioner to
Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson said in a video message today.
Mentioning that there are three more flights to London, the British envoy
said those who didn’t manage seat on today’s flight there is good chance for
them to have a seat on the flight later in the week.
“It is very important that we have a sense of the overall demand in
Bangladesh for British visitors to return home. If you haven’t booked on our
CTM portal please do that strait away, so that we know the overall numbers of
people who will need to be going home,” he added in the video message.
Earlier, a total of 154 Turkish citizens who were stranded here due to
COVID-19 pandemic left here today by a chartered flight of Turkish Airlines.
Besides, the 4th chartered flight for US citizens arranged by the US
Department of State and US Embassy in Dhaka is also scheduled to leave HSIA
this evening for Washington, D.C with stopovers at Kadena Air Base, Japan and
Anchorage, Alaska.
Earlier, citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Bhutan
and different European countries also left here by their personal choice
through chartered flights amid outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.
On April 11, Bangladesh extended ongoing ban on flight operation till April
30 to and from all European countries and the nations that restricted the
entry of Bangladeshis to their territories as well as on all domestic routes
over the coronavirus fear.
Currently, regular commercial flights are being operated from Bangladesh to
only China.