Biman cancels all flights to Kuala Lumpur
Flight operations at Dhaka airport dropped by 45 percent
The Biman Bangladesh Airlines has cancelled all of its flights to Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur till further notice as the country imposed a ban on all foreign tourists and visitors.
The national carrier has cut 168 out of 226 weekly flights on international routes until on Tuesday over the coronavirus outbreak.
Currently, Biman is operating 58 flights to the United Kingdom, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Bangkok a week, said Biman's Managing Director Mokabbir Hossain.
The Biman's latest cancellation of the flight to Kuala Lumpur came after Malaysian government on Monday night restricted movement nationwide, starting from March 18 until 31, in a bid to stem the rising number of coronavirus cases.
Earlier, Biman has cancelled flights to Qatar, Kuwait, India, Saudi Arabia and Nepal over a period of time, in the wake of travel restrictions imposed by the governments of the respective countries.
On another development, a special flight of Biman flew 400 Bangladeshis, including 317 Umrah pilgrims, back home from Jeddah on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Biman has also slashed flight frequencies on domestic routes due to low number of passengers.
The drop in air connectivity has reduced flight operations at the Dhaka airport by 45 percent, said AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, director at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
He said passengers from all European countries, except the UK, are prohibited to enter the country.
When anyone from those countries arrives, they are being pushed back, he said adding that flights from other countries remain normal.
Two foreigners, who arrived here on a Qatar Airways flight on Monday evening, were pushed back on the return flight.
"One of the foreigners was a US citizen and another was from Ivory Coast. They were sent back on the same flight as the Bangladesh government previously suspended all on-arrival visas," the airport director added.