Tabligh-Jamaat’s demo messes up flight schedule at Dhaka airport

Almost all international and domestic flights of the national flag carrier were affected today due to the unprecedented traffic jam induced by the demonstration of a section of Tabligh-Jamaat men in Dhaka airport area.

“The flights between 10:00am and 8:00pm were delayed for 30 minutes to one hour,” Biman Bangladesh Airlines General Manager (Public Relation) Shakil Meraj told The Daily Star.

He said two Biman flights scheduled to fly for Jeddah and Muscat at 7:30pm and 7:40pm were delayed for more than an hour as captain, crews and most of the passengers of the two international flights could not reach the airport on time due to terrific congestion.

ARM Sadat, manager (Airport Operation and Customer Service) of Novo Air said most of their 16 domestic and international flights were forced to delay due to the jam as passengers and staffs of the flights could not reach the airport as per the schedule.

“Passengers even told us that it took them three hours to come to the airport from Uttara, around one kilometre distance between the two spots,” he said.

Officials of other international and private airliners also shared the same story of sufferings of their passengers due to the horrific traffic jam.

A section of Tabligh-Jamaat men blockaded the Airport Road in Dhaka for several hours protesting arrival of a top religious scholar from India causing a severe gridlock on the city roads.