Govt threatens to suspend flights for Covid-19 certificates breach

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has issued a warning, saying it will suspend flights of airlines if they bring passengers from abroad without Covid-19 negative certificates.

A circular was issued in this regard on Sunday. It will come into force with immediate effect.

Bangladesh has made Covid-19 negative certificates compulsory for incoming international passengers from respective countries of departure.

According to the circular, "It is observed with great concern that recently some airlines are carrying passengers without PCR-based Covid-19 negative certificates and sometimes even Covid-19 positive passengers are carried."

In the circumstances, the civil aviation authorities instructed all the airlines operating to and from Bangladesh to refrain from carrying Covid-19 positive passengers and passengers without PCR-based Covid-19 negative certificates.

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The CAAB said if any airlines fail to comply with its instruction, one scheduled flight of the airlines will be suspended for the first violation, according to the circular.

"For the second violation, three scheduled flights will be suspended."

For the third violation, all scheduled flights will be halted for one week, while in case of the fourth violation, all the scheduled flights will be suspended for a minimum of four weeks, the authorities said. 

Recently, the authorities concerned imposed fines on various airlines for not carrying Covid-19 negative certificates.

In June, international flight operations resumed in Bangladesh on a limited scale after around three months of suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.