Biman Bangladesh Airlines has suspended its international flights on Dhaka-Bangkok-Dhaka route amid safety concerns over the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.
Biman Managing Director and CEO Md Mokabbir Hossain confirmed the matter on Friday.
He said Biman operates 14 flights on Dhaka-Bangkok-Dhaka route every week. But due to the ongoing crisis, the numbers of flights between Dhaka and the Thai capital dropped to four two weeks ago.
This is why the national flag carrier has decided to suspend all flights with Bangkok for now, Mokabbir added.
Earlier on Thursday, Thailand-based airlines Thai Lion suspended its Dhaka-Bangkok Dhaka flights, scheduled from March 20 till April 30, on Thursday.
Biman has suspended its flights with the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, in line with the travel restrictions in those countries.
The Biman flights with Dubai and Abu Dhabi will remain suspended till March 31. The flights with Singapore will be suspended from March 21 to April 3, the Biman CEO said on Thursday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Biman suspended flight operations with Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. On Monday, the national flag carrier suspended flights with Oman.
Flight operations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar have also been suspended to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, Turkish Airlines cancelled its Dhaka-Istanbul-Dhaka flights on March 22, 24, 26, 29, and 31, and April 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14 and 16.
On March 14, the government prohibited all incoming flights from Europe, except the United Kingdom, till March 31. On Thursday, the government barred all incoming flights from the UK and Turkey as well.
Covid-19, caused by a new strain of coronavirus, broke out in Wuhan city, in the Hubei province of China, in December 2019, and has become a global pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
As of 11:50pm, Bangladesh time, on March 20, 263,071 people have been infected with the virus around the world, of whom 11,113 patients have died, according to the Coronavirus Research Center of Johns Hopkins University in the US.
In Bangladesh, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has confirmed 20 cases of Covid-19 infections. Of them, a 70-year-old patient died on Wednesday, and the first three patients have fully recovered and been released.
