Another setback for Biman

A day before resuming its flights on the Dubai and Abu Dhabi route from today, Biman Bangladesh Airlines decided not to operate its regular flights on the two high-demand destinations.

Sources at the national flag carrier said Biman was forced to take the sudden decision yesterday as the foreign ministry has asked it not to carry any passenger from Dubai to Bangladesh.

The national airliner, however, decided to send those passengers to Dubai and Abu Dhabi who have already bought Biman tickets to fly to the two destinations through alternative measures, a top official of Biman told this correspondent wishing anonymity.

Biman's decision of not to operate on the Dubai and Abu Dhabi routes came as a major setback to a huge number of Bangladeshis specially migrant workers who were waiting to return to their workplaces.

According to the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh, several thousand Bangladeshi expatriate workers have remained stranded in the country for the last three months to join their workplaces in Dubai and Abu Dhabi due to suspension of regular flight operations on international routes since middle of March.

Biman on July 1 announced to resume it's flight on Dhaka-Dubai and Dhaka-Abu Dhabi routes from July 6 and July 7 respectively.

Sources at the national flag carrier said all tickets for the Dubai and Abu Dhabi routes were sold out till July 16.

"As they (passengers) have bought tickets from us, we are obligated to carry them to their desired destinations through alternative measures," said a top official of Biman.

"As the government told us that we won't be able to take any passengers from Dubai to Dhaka, we have decided not to operate our flights in the two routes as carrying passengers only from Dhaka to Dubai will cause a huge loss for us. We are already in loss. We won't be able to afford further loss at this moment," he also said.

He did not elaborate further on the matter.

With the cancellations of its flights on Dubai and Abu Dhabi routes, Biman will now operate its international flight on only one route -- Dhaka-London, out of total 18 international destinations.

On Saturday, Biman said it has cancelled flight operations on all international routes till July 30 except for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and London due to global Covid-19 pandemic.

The national air carrier also said it has suspended its flight operations on the Kuala Lumpur and Singapore route till August 31.

Besides, all Manchester bound flights of the national flag carrier have also been cancelled till July 30, said Biman.

2 MORE AIRLINES GET PERMISSION

Two more foreign airlines -- Malindo Air, a Malaysian airline, and Mihin Lanka, an airline owned by the Sri Lankan government -- have got permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh to resume flights from Dhaka on a limited scale.

Malindo Air got permission to operate two flights a week initially while Mihin Lanka was allowed to operate one flight a week, sources at the CAAB said.

CAAB Spokesperson Sohel Kamruzzaman said Malindo Air will be able to carry only transit passengers and those who have Malaysian residence permit from Dhaka.

Bangladeshi expatriate workers stranded in the country are not getting the opportunity to go to Malaysia and return home right now through Malindo Air.

CAAB has so far given permission to Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Air Arabia to resume flights from Dhaka on a limited scale.

After suspension of regular flight operation for around three months, CAAB gave permission to resume flight on international routes from June 16 on a limited scale due considering Covid-19 pandemic.