The air ambulance scheduled to take BNP Chairperson and former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia to London will not be arriving in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The aircraft was earlier scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8am on Tuesday. However, the operator has sought cancellation of the previously granted permission.
A Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) official confirmed the development, saying the German-based FAI Aviation Group submitted a formal request through the local coordination agency to withdraw the approved landing slot.
“We will forward the cancellation request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for necessary further action,” the official told reporters.
However, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Executive Director SM Ragib Samad said he had not yet received any official communication confirming that the air ambulance would not arrive.
Earlier, based on the operator’s application submitted on Sunday, authorities had approved the aircraft’s landing at 8am on Tuesday, with a scheduled departure from Dhaka around 9pm the same day.