Heavy fog: 6 flights to Dhaka land in Kolkata, Sylhet

The planes were diverted from Shahjalal International Airport from 3:30am to 4:50am on Monday, the airport’s executive director says

Six flights bound for Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport have been diverted to India’s Kolkata and Sylhet due to heavy fog, according to the airport’s Executive Director Group Captain Muhammed Kamrul Islam.

“Six passenger flights were diverted from Shahjalal International Airport to the airports in Sylhet and Kolkata between 3:30am to 4:50am on Monday due to heavy fog,” he said.

“The diverted flights gradually started arriving at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after 10am.”

The flights had difficulty landing as the heavy fog lowered visibility.

In light of the situation, the flights were ordered to make emergency landings at nearby airports.

On Nov 17, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh announced that if heavy fog causes visibility issues at Dhaka airport, aircraft can be diverted to the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram or the Osmani International Airport in Sylhet as alternatives.

For this reason, CAAB ordered Shah Amanat International Airport to prepare for such flights for four days out of the week and for Osmani International Airport to prepare for them on the remaining three days of the week.