Japan now bans chartered flights from Bangladesh Biman

Japan has put a moratorium on all chartered flights operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines alongside a ban on regular flights amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It has emerged that the latest restrictions came as two people tested positive for coronavirus after flying to Japan on special Biman flights.

But the state minister for civil aviation and tourism as well as the civil aviation secretary has blamed the Embassy of Japan in Dhaka for the problem. They pointed out that it was the mission that arranged the trip; Biman only let them hire its jet.

No comment from the Japanese embassy was immediately available.

Bangladesh is preparing to reopen international flights later this month.

Md Mahbub Ali, the state minister for civil aviation, said, “A restriction has been placed on conducting flights from Bangladesh to Japan. I heard that two people tested positive for coronavirus after flying to Japan on a special flight of Biman.”

Bangladesh sent two embassy officials to Japan on a chartered flight in April. Later, Tokyo banned entry of chartered flights from Bangladesh, said Md Mohibul Haque, the civil aviation secretary.

He added that the list of passengers on that plane was not prepared by Biman, or the ministry or the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.

“The Japanese embassy had chartered our flights. Now the same country has banned chartered flights from Bangladesh. We have said the Japanese embassy is responsible for the issue as the embassy made the list of people who will get on the flight. They simply wanted an aeroplane from Biman.”

“Now the blame is being pinned on us. We are not responsible for someone testing positive after flying there. So it is not our fault in anyway,” Secretary Mohibul said.

He said the regular flights to and from Japan will be restored once the air connectivity returns to normal, and mentioned that an air service agreement had been reached with the East Asian country.

“We’ve published notice for appointment of a GSA [general sales agent] there. Regular flights [to Japan] will resume once the jobs are done,” the secretary said.

Citing a conversation with Japanese Ambassador Ito Naoki on Wednesday, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said Japan is hopeful about the resumption of flights for the sake of trade.