Biman takes to the sky on international routes after nearly 3 months

The national flag carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, resumed operations of regular flights on international routes today -- around three months after a nationwide closure and international air-travel ban were imposed due to the global coronavirus outbreak.

The maiden flight of BG001 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 12:02pm, bound for London with 187 passengers on board, Biman's Deputy General Manager (Public Relations) Tahera Khandaker told The Daily Star.

Passengers from Dhaka to London route do not require health certificates declaring that they are not infected with Covid-19, said Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB).

But they will have to fill-up a health declaration form as per the International Civil Aviation Organization's guidelines, he added.

The CAAB chief also said that all London-bound passengers will have to stay in quarantine for 14 days as per the policy of that country.

According to Biman sources, the national carrier will primarily operate one weekly flight -- on Sundays -- on the Dhaka-London-Dhaka route.

Biman today provided hand sanitiser, gloves and masks to each passenger, said Tahera.

Besides, she said, instead of usual in-flight dishes, passengers were provided dry meals in food boxes, in line with guidelines provided by the International Civil Aviation Organization following the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Passengers were also not served any cold drinks.

Since the middle of February, Biman gradually suspended flight operations on all 18 international routes due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

On March 30, Biman operated its last official flight on the London-Dhaka route.