Staff Reporter :
The national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines along with privately operated US-Bangla Airlines and Novoair have decided to cancel all their flights to India amid the global outbreak of coronavirus.
The airliners came up with the decision after India closed its doors to visitors until mid-April in an attempt to contain the spread of virus there.
Biman, US-Bangla and Novoair were operating flights in Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Delhi routes.
The concerned airlines likely to refund the ticket money or reschedule the flights later, officials said.
Md Mokabbir Hossain, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said that they canceled their flights from March 14 as India imposed stringent travel curbs to the country after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic.
India’s count of infected people is 62 with no confirmed deaths so far from the disease.
Biman’s CEO said as the number of passengers from Kolkata is very low, the national flag carrier would operate a flight to Delhi any day after March 14 on an emergency basis to bring passengers from Delhi.
Following the decision of the Novoair, which operates its flight between Dhaka and Kolkata, also stopped its operation from March 14.
Novoair Senior Manager (Marketing and Sales) AKM Mahfuzul Alam said, “We have made the decision considering the overall situation.”
US-Bangla Airlines decided to suspend all its flights to the neighbouring country from March 17,
General Manager (Media) Kamrul Islam said.
“Besides, we will send our flights to Chennai and Kolkata on March 15 and 16 respectively for facilitating the return of our passengers to Bangladesh,” he said.
On Wednesday, a meeting of the high-level group of ministers (GOM) decided to suspend “all existing visas; except diplomatic, official, UN/international organisations, employment or project visas” until 15 April 2020.
The move comes into effect from 12pm on 13 March and will be enforced at “the port of departure”.
The visa free travel facility granted to overseas citizens of India (OCIs) will also be halted for this time period.
However, “any foreign national who intends to travel to India for [a] compelling reason may contact the nearest Indian mission”, the GOM added.
The national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines along with privately operated US-Bangla Airlines and Novoair have decided to cancel all their flights to India amid the global outbreak of coronavirus.
The airliners came up with the decision after India closed its doors to visitors until mid-April in an attempt to contain the spread of virus there.
Biman, US-Bangla and Novoair were operating flights in Dhaka-Kolkata and Dhaka-Delhi routes.
The concerned airlines likely to refund the ticket money or reschedule the flights later, officials said.
Md Mokabbir Hossain, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said that they canceled their flights from March 14 as India imposed stringent travel curbs to the country after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic.
India’s count of infected people is 62 with no confirmed deaths so far from the disease.
Biman’s CEO said as the number of passengers from Kolkata is very low, the national flag carrier would operate a flight to Delhi any day after March 14 on an emergency basis to bring passengers from Delhi.
Following the decision of the Novoair, which operates its flight between Dhaka and Kolkata, also stopped its operation from March 14.
Novoair Senior Manager (Marketing and Sales) AKM Mahfuzul Alam said, “We have made the decision considering the overall situation.”
US-Bangla Airlines decided to suspend all its flights to the neighbouring country from March 17,
General Manager (Media) Kamrul Islam said.
“Besides, we will send our flights to Chennai and Kolkata on March 15 and 16 respectively for facilitating the return of our passengers to Bangladesh,” he said.
On Wednesday, a meeting of the high-level group of ministers (GOM) decided to suspend “all existing visas; except diplomatic, official, UN/international organisations, employment or project visas” until 15 April 2020.
The move comes into effect from 12pm on 13 March and will be enforced at “the port of departure”.
The visa free travel facility granted to overseas citizens of India (OCIs) will also be halted for this time period.
However, “any foreign national who intends to travel to India for [a] compelling reason may contact the nearest Indian mission”, the GOM added.
