Domestic flights may take off from 8 May
After remaining closed for almost one and a half months, domestic flights may resume on a limited scale from 8 May, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) and the Aviation Operators Association of Bangladesh (AOAB). Air tickets will be sold as soon as CAAB gives its approval.
CAAB chairman Air Vice Marshal Md Mofidur Rahman told Prothom Alo on Saturday that domestic flights will operate on a limited scale, maintaining all health regulations. Each flight will carry a maximum of 75 per cent capacity and the flights will be few in number. The airports have been asked to take due preparation.
AOAB has submitted a plan to CAAB as to how the flights will operate during this coronavirus outbreak. They also held a meeting on 29 April in this regard.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, secretary general of AOAB and managing director of Novoair, Mofizur Rahman, said that according to the decisions taken at the meeting, domestic flights may resume from 8 May. Novoair can operate 10 to 12 flights per day. Everything depends on the situation. Once CAAB’s nod is given, ticket sales will begin.
Other than the state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines, three private airlines operate domestic flights within the country. These are US-Bangla Airlines, Novoair and Regent Airways.
Specific distances will be maintained between the planes at the airports. Each flight will carry 50 to 75 per cent of capacity. No more than passengers of three flights will be allowed in the terminal at the same time and they will maintain social distancing.
The private airlines operate 80 per cent of the flights on the domestic routes. Before the coronavirus outbreak, these four airlines would operate around 140 flights a day with around 12,000 passengers. With Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at the centre, the flights operated to and from Chattogram, Sylhet, Cox’s Bazar, Jashore, Syedpur, Rajshahi and Barishal.
According to CAAB, in 2019 there were 4,482,000 passengers on Bangladesh’s domestic routes. In 2018 this was 4,125,000. That means there was a 700,000 increase in passengers on the domestic routes in just a matter of year. This also increased competition among the airlines and they increased the number of their aircrafts in order to keep control of the market. US-Bangla and Novoair added several planes to their fleets this year. Biman Bangladesh Airlines will receive three new Dash-8 aircrafts this June.
Bangladesh reportedly has an over Tk 8 million market on its domestic routes. With the advent of coronavirus, the airlines began losing passengers on all routes from February this year. By March the number of passengers had fallen by 40 per cent. Then on 21 March, CAAB closed down all domestic flights along with international flights as well.
The flight prohibition was enforced till 7 May.
CAAB officials has said that according to the new plans, 40 domestic flights will operate every day on eight routes. No more than three flights will take off per hour.
Specific distances will be maintained between the planes at the airports. Each flight will carry 50 to 75 per cent of capacity. No more than passengers of three flights will be allowed in the terminal at the same time and they will maintain social distancing. Seats will be specified in the planes for the passengers. The airlines will provide fresh gloves and masks for the passengers and wearing these will be compulsory. Social distancing will be maintained in the seating arrangements within the plane too. Each and every flight will be sanitised.