A travel ban has prompted airlines to cancel flights to Bangladesh. Some of the carriers impacted by the ban include Emirates, Etihad, flydubai, and Qatar Airways. Carriers from other nations will also be affected by the international travel ban enacted by the Bangladeshi government.
The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to affect the global aviation industry. While many had hoped that this summer would be better than the last, it seems as though this may not be the case depending on the region of travel. Indeed, some countries currently have stricter travel requirements than when the pandemic was seemingly at its worst a year ago.
An international travel ban
Bangladesh has brought in a travel ban as part of its COVID-19 restrictions. According to the latest figures, the nation’s cases have been surging, with a seven-day average of 6,770 new daily cases. As such, according to UAE publication The National, Bangladesh is bringing in a new flight ban.
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The government will ban both domestic and international flights in conjunction with a seven-day national lockdown. The National reports that international flights will initially be banned for one week. However, this could be extended, as has been the case with several other bans worldwide.
While the ban remains in place, certain flights will be allowed to continue, as has been the case elsewhere in the world. These flights include those for medical and repatriation reasons and cargo flights with no passengers.
Carriers cancel flights
As a result of the ban, airlines have unsurprisingly had to cut flights. According to the Emirates website, its last flight to Dhaka will operate on Tuesday, leaving Dhaka at 01:40 on Wednesday. So far, the UAE giant has canceled its flights until April 20th, advising customers to rebook as the airline won’t accept them for travel.
Etihad’s travel guide reveals that it won’t be operating flights to Dhaka from April 14th to 20th. While the flight is still showing as operational in the airline’s flight status tool, it is not possible to book tickets for the airline’s trip to Dhaka.
Air Arabia is still selling flights from Sharjah to Dhaka on April 14th. However, flights from April 15th to and including April 19th are not being sold. Meanwhile, flydubai has canceled flights to both Dhaka and Chattogram. Of course, it’s not just UAE carriers that have canceled flights to Bangladesh. Qatar Airways isn’t selling tickets for flights to Dhaka until April 20th.
The state of Dhaka’s aviation
According to data from RadarBox.com, Dhaka saw a considerable drop in the number of flights operated between mid-March and early June. This is relatively similar to other global airports. Since then, traffic has been making a steady recovery.
While flight numbers don’t quite match pre-collapse 2020 levels, according to data, they were up 48% compared to 2019 levels last week. Undoubtedly, the latest flight ban will cause numbers to plummet once more.
What do you make of the week-long Bangladeshi international flight ban? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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