Ban on flights extended till May 7

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh yesterday extended the ongoing ban on schedule passenger flight operations with all countries, except for China, until May 7 to contain the transmission of Covid-19 in the country.

The countries are Bahrain, Bhutan, Hong Kong, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, the UAE and the UK, said a CAAB press release.

Flight operations on domestic route will also remain suspended until May 7, the release added.

However, cargo flight, air ambulance, emergency landing, special flight, and relief carrying flight will be outside the purview of the restriction, the release said.

This is the fourth time Bangladesh extended flight suspension period as the government earlier stretched it thrice from March 31 to April 7, from April 8 to 14 and then from April 15 to 30, while the ban on some international flights first began on March 16.

Meanwhile, different countries, including the US, 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.

The Bangladesh government also facilitated chartered flights to bring back its nationals from a number of countries, including India, Singapore, and Thailand.