An aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines heading for Saudi Arabia had to return to Dhaka and make an emergency landing as a windshield of the Boeing 787-9 cracked mid flight.

The flight departed the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) around 5:30pm and returned around 8:00pm on Saturday.

With 285 passengers on board, BG349 safely landed thanks to Tania Reza, the pilot in command, said Tahera Khondokar, general manager, (public relations) at Biman.

"The flight was headed for Dammam. But two hours into the flight, the captain saw a crack on the left side of a windshield. By that time, the aircraft was in Indian airspace," she said.

After communicating with the air traffic control at HSIA, the captain decided to return.

Tahera said all passengers were immediately given hotel accommodation and they were sent to Dammam on another Biman flight around 11:00am yesterday.

A senior pilot of the national flag carrier said that a crack in the windshield does not happen often.

"Cracking of windshield midair is a scary incident. But the pilot in command handled the whole situation and landed the aircraft safely," a Biman pilot said wishing anonymity.

He also said the Biman authorities have already informed Boeing about a replacement windshield.

In 2022, a Boeing 737-800 of Biman was grounded in Malaysia because its windshield had cracked.