As the government is withdrawing the general shutdown from the very first day of June, domestic flight operations are also going to start on a limited scale.
The Cabinet Division on Thursday, issued a gazette in this regard where it stated that concerned airliner will strictly enforce public health safety and hygiene rules as directed by the government to avoid contamination of coronavirus.
The Cabinet Division has directed the concerned ministries / departments to take necessary steps in this regard.
Following the government directives, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has also informed that they will start domestic flight operation from June 1. CAAB chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman said, "We have plan and preparation to resume domestic flight operation from June.
We will start flight operations on Dhaka to Chattogram and Dhaka to Sylhet routes. Based on the situation we will reopen more domestic routes." According to CAAB, the authority may consider reopening more domestic routes from June 3. Currently three airline companies are now operating domestic flights.
Meanwhile, the international flights would continue to remain suspended.
CAAB had imposed restrictions on flight operations, both in domestic and international routes, to halt the spread of the lethal virus.
According to CAAB, they restricted flight operations on 16 international destination except on Dhaka-China route. However, cargo transportation and special charter flight operations remain normal.
The countries where the flight operations were suspended are; Bahrain, Bhutan, Hong Kong, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, UAE and the UK.
Thanking the government, US- Bangla General Manager (public relations) Kamrul Islam told Bangladesh Post that, "As per government directives, we have to finalize our plan to resume domestic flight operations. We will provide masks, head cover, hand gloves, and others. to maintain health safety issues."
"We will not carry more than 50 percent passenger in an aircraft, our pilots and cabin crews will also be well protected while operating a flight," he added.
