US-Bangla Airlines will operate eight special flights on the Chennai-Dhaka and Kolkata-Dhaka routes from April 20 – 25, to bring back over 1,000 stranded Bangladeshis.

Most of the stranded Bangladeshi citizens went to India for medical treatment.

The airlines will also operate a special flight on the Bangkok-Dhaka route today to bring back 49 stranded Bangladeshi nationals, Kamrul Islam, general manager (public relations) at US-Bangla Airlines, told The Daily Star.

Of the eight special flights from India, six will be operated from Chennai from April 20 to 25 while two flights on the Kolkata-Dhaka route will be operated on April 21 and April 23, added Kamrul Islam.

The special flight on the Chennai-Dhaka route is scheduled to take off at 12:15pm (Bangladesh local time) and is expected to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 3:15pm.

The special flight on the Kolkata-Dhaka route is scheduled to depart at 11:30am (Bangladesh local time).

All flights from India and Bangkok will be operated with Boeing 737-800 aircraft having a seating capacity of 164.

Several hundred Bangladeshi nationals remained stranded in India for over a month as air-travel between the two countries remained suspended following the Covid-19 outbreak.

Many of the stranded Bangladeshis are going through a hard time at different hotels and hospitals as they are running out of funds.