All international routes from Bangladesh will be closed for a week from April 14, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said.
However, emergency, cargo and special flights will operate.
Flight operations on the country’s domestic routes have also remain suspended as the government has imposed restrictions on people’s movement to halt the spread of second wave of Covid-19.
CAAB officials said a nationwide crackdown is set to begin in the second phase to curb the rise of the Coronavirus. For this reason, the decision to stop air travel on international routes was taken.
In this regard, CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mofidur Rahman said, "Flights on international routes would be suspended for a week from April 14. However, emergency, cargo and special flights will continue".
Biman’s DGM (Public Relations) Tahera Khandaker told Bangladesh Post, “Biman operates on an average 10 domestic flights a day. As the government has decided to stop operation to save the lives of the people, we are following the instructions. The rest will probably be known later how much damage will be done.”
US-Bangla Airline’s general manager (Public Relation) Kamrul Islam while connected told Bangladesh Post, “Three Dash8 and seven ATR 72 remain out of operations which are used to operate on domestic flights. We are ready to operate flights on domestic routes, maintaining the health safety guidelines if the government allow us. But we are about to face more flight cancellation".
Head of Marketing Mezbah-ul-Islam at Novo Air told media, “We are likely to face a loss of around crore taka from operating revenue every day.”
