Special Biman Flight Repatriates 246 People to Paris

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

"Carrying passengers, the special chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11:05 a.m. to Paris," said Tahera Khondoker, Deputy General Manager, Public Relations, Biman.

Earlier in the morning, a special flight from Novoair, a private air carrier, brought 54 French people born in Bangladesh and permanent residents from Sylhet to Dhaka.

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

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

Since the middle of March, the Government has restored operations on foreign routes on a small scale after 16 June, following more than three months of suspension on daily passenger flights.

Only three airlines – Biman, Qatar Airways and Emirates Airlines – have so far been authorized by the Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority to operate flights from Dhaka.

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