DHAKA, May 5, 2020 (BSS) – The government today extended the ongoing ban
on flight operation for the fifth consecutive time till May 16 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.
The commercial scheduled international flights will remain suspended till
May 16 to and from Bahrain, Bhutan, Hongkong, India, Kuwait, Malaysia,
Maldives, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand,
Turkey, UAE, and the UK, said a Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB)
circular, signed by its chairman, here today.
Along with that, it said, all domestic flights will remain suspended till
May 16 while cargo, special, air ambulance, relief carrying flights and
emergency landing aircraft remain out of this ban.
Currently, flights are being operated from Bangladesh to only China.
This is the fifth time Bangladesh extended flight suspension period as the
government earlier extended it from March 31 to April 7, from April 8 to 14,
from April 15 to 30 and then May 1 to May 7 while the ban on some
international flights first began on March 16.
Meanwhile, different countries, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Turkey,
Australia, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Bhutan, and different European
countries so far operated several special chartered flights amid the flight
suspension to repatriate their citizens from here.
Bangladesh government also facilitated chartered flights to bring back its
nationals from a number of countries, including India, Singapore and
Thailand.
More than 250,000 people have so far been killed and nearly 3.6 million
infected worldwide by the COVID-19, which has left half of humanity under
some form of lockdown and pushed the global economy towards its worst
downturn.