Passengers from 8 countries to be allowed here till 5 May: CAAB

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said on Wednesday that passengers from eight countries will be allowed to enter the country till 5 May.

The countries are- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Singapore, China and the UAE.

In a press release, CAAB said the special flights are allowed to operate between Bangladesh and the aforesaid eight countries.

The airliners of the countries were also warned to not carry passengers to Dhaka from anywhere else.

Besides, the period of all special flights under special considerations has been extended to continue their operation till 5 May following the government's decision to prolong the ongoing "relaxed" lockdown for another week.

CAAB, on April 11, suspended operation of all international passenger flights to and from Bangladesh for a week from April 14 following a government order.

Later on April 15, following the suspension of international flights from April 14, the government decided to operate around 100 special flights to Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, UAE, and Singapore in a week from April 17.

Later, China, Kuwait and Bahrain were added to the list of countries where special flights will be operated considering the desperation of migrants waiting to go to their workplaces.

However, the government closed the border with India for 14 days, starting on 26 April, as Covid-19 has taken a dangerous turn in the neighbouring country.

In Bangladesh, limited restrictions were in place from 5-11 April to tame the second wave of the pandemic but to no avail. Later, a one-week nationwide lockdown was enforced from 14 April, which was then extended until 28 April.

The government, however, lifted some of the restrictions, including on shops and shopping malls, and extended the ongoing "lockdown" for a week until 5 May.

The special conditions for the airliners are listed below:

1. Only point-to-point passengers shall be carried.

2. All incoming and outgoing passengers must possess PCR-based Covid-19 negative certificates attained within 72 hours of the flight departure time, irrespective of Covid-19 vaccination.

3. All passengers coming to Bangladesh shall have to complete a fourteen-day institutional quarantine at government-nominated facilities or at hotels at the passengers' own expenses. Airlines shall issue boarding passes only after ensuring the institutional quarantine arrangements for every concerned passenger.

4. Airlines are expected to charge usual airfare as the capacity restriction for the flights are relaxed. Moreover, the ground handling and other relevant charges for these flights will be imposed as scheduled passenger flights.

5. Outgoing passengers to all destinations can be carried. However, expatriate workers will get priority to travel over other passengers

6. Passengers are entitled to carry their family members along with them. The expatriate workers will get priority to travel over others' families.

7. As for capacity restrictions for outgoing flights from Dhaka, narrow-bodied (Single isle) aircraft will face no restriction. All Wide Bodied (Twin isle) aircraft shall carry a maximum of 280 passengers, except B777 and B747 aircraft shall be entitled to carry up to 350 passengers.

8. As for capacity restrictions for incoming flights to Dhaka, narrow-bodied (Single isle) aircraft will be able to carry a maximum of 100 passengers while Wide Bodied (Twin isle) aircraft will be able to carry 150 passengers.

9. All flights must leave the last row of the economy class and one seat of the business class cabin vacant for any suspected Covid- 19 positive passengers, in both cases of Narrow - Body or Wide Body aircraft.

10. Moreover, all health guidelines at the airport or in the aircraft shall be strictly adhered to following the other directives of CAAB.