Special Biman flight repatriates 246 people to Paris

A total of 246 people, many of whom are Bangladesh-born French citizens were repatriated to Paris today by a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines due to suspension of regular flight operation on most of the international routes due to Covid-19 pandemic.

"Carrying the passengers, the special chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11:05am for Paris," Tahera Khondoker, deputy general manager, public relations, Biman, said.

Earlier in the morning, a special flight of Novoair, a private air operator, carried 54 Bangladesh-born French nationals and permanent residents from Sylhet to Dhaka.

Carrying the passengers, the special flight of Novoair arrived at the Dhaka Airport at 7:15am, the airlines said in a press release.

Later, the passengers departed from Dhaka to Paris by a special flight of Biman.

The government from June 16 resumed flight operations on international routes on a limited scale after more than three months of suspension on operating regular passenger flights since the middle of March.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh has so far given permission to only three airlines -- Biman, Qatar Airways and Emirates Airlines to operate flights from Dhaka.

Biman is operating weekly one flight on Dhaka-London-Dhaka route while Qatar and Emirates are operating weekly three transit flights to Doha and Dubai respectively, sources at the HSIA said.

19 INDIAN SAILORS FLY HOME BY NOVOAIR

Nineteen Indian sailors who remained stranded in Bangladesh due to the coronavirus situation, returned home on a special flight of Novoair on Tuesday.

Carrying the Indian sailors, the special flight of Novoair arrived in Kolkata at 2:55pm local time.