Bangladesh, India plan to resume flights on Oct 28 after eight months

After the reopening of online visa application services for Bangladeshis, India has moved to resume flights connecting the two countries on Oct 28 under a bilateral “air bubble” arrangement amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A passenger moves through a disinfection chamber at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Jun 16, 2020 amid the coronavirus outbreak. A passenger moves through a disinfection chamber at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Jun 16, 2020 amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The flights will connect five Indian cities with Dhaka, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka tweeted on Saturday.

Three airlines from Bangladesh will operate 28 flights a week initially, while five Indian airlines will operate the same number of flights, the Bangladesh foreign ministry said on Facebook.     

The Bangladeshi airlines are Biman Bangladesh Airlines, US-Bangla Airlines, and NOVOAIR, while the Indian airlines are Air India, Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and GoAir.

Biman is scheduled to operate flights on Dhaka-Delhi-Dhaka and Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka routes, US-Bangla Airlines on Dhaka-Chennai and NOVOAIR on the Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka route.

The Indian airlines will operate flights on Dhaka-Delhi-Dhaka, Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka, Dhaka-Chennai-Dhaka, and Dhaka-Mumbai-Dhaka routes.

A passenger moves through a disinfection chamber at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Jun 16, 2020 amid the coronavirus outbreak.

After arriving in Dhaka earlier in October, Indian High Commissioner Vikram Kumar Doraiswami said India was committed to deliver on a special “air bubble” arrangement to resume aviation “very soon” as promised by Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla during his Dhaka visit in August.

India had suspended the flights nearly eight months ago when the virus outbreak began to spread.

It had also suspended visas in March and resumed the online application services for Bangladeshis last week.

The visa categories currently available for Bangladeshis are medical, business, employment, entry, journalist, diplomatic, official, UN Official, and UN Diplomatic.

The suspensions spelt trouble for many Bangladeshis who needed to travel to India, especially to get medical attention.

In normal days, more than 3,500 Bangladeshis travel to India daily on an average. Over 10 percent of them travel on medical purposes.

Of the foreigners who visit India for medical purposes, 45 percent are from Bangladesh, according to the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

More than 13.7 million foreigners took treatment in India between January 2018 and March 2019. They include 2.8 million Bangladeshis.

Keeping #NeighbourhoodFirst

Bilateral #IndiaBangladesh #AirBubble likely to roll out from 28/10/2020

28 weekly flights connecting 5 Indian cities with #Dhaka via 5 airlines from #India & 3 from #Bangladesh

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— India in Bangladesh (@ihcdhaka) October 17, 2020