Domestic flights resume today with few passengers

Number of passengers on domestic routes was low today as regular flight operations -- after a recess of 16 days due to restrictions imposed to curb Covid-19 transmission -- resumed.

Two private airlines, US-Bangla and Novoair, operated their flights to Chattogram and Sylhet in the morning with a small number of passengers. 

The number of passengers on Dhaka-Chattogram flight of Novoair was only three to four, Mesbah ul Islam, head of marketing and sales, told The Daily Star.

The number of passengers on the return flight to Dhaka was also three to four, he added.

On Novoair's Dhaka-Saidpur flight, the number of passengers was higher -- 58.

The airline carried 32 passengers to Jashore and came back to Dhaka with 28 passengers.

US-Bangla airlines carried only three passengers to Sylhet while the airline had 28 passengers on the Dhaka-Chattogram route, Kamrul Islam, spokesperson of the airline, told The Daily Star.

On the Dhaka-Saidpur route, US-Bangla Airlines carried 49 passengers, Kamrul Islam added. 

Mesbah said due to lack of publicity centring resumption of domestic flight operation, the number of passengers on the first day was low.

Besides, he said, due to Ramadan and lockdown, the number of passengers is also low on different routes.

"But we hope the situation will change and the number of passengers will increase in the days to come," he added.

Kamrul Islam said the number of passengers in the morning was low. But number of passengers increased in the flights scheduled for later in the day and afternoon.

Flight operations on five domestic routes -- Chattogram, Saidpur, Sylhet, Barishal, and Jashore -- resumed from today on a limited scale.

Flights on the Dhaka-Rajshahi route will resume from tomorrow.

An airline will be able to fly a maximum of 12 flights on the six domestic routes.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines will resume its flights on domestic routes from tomorrow.

Earlier on April 3, CAAB decided to suspend all domestic flights in Bangladesh from April 5 in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19.