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The airline suspends Kolkata, Chennai flights due to passenger shortage amid visa issues
Published : 21 Sep 2024, 08:58 PM
Private carrier US-Bangla Airlines has suspended Chattogram-Kolkata flights due to delays in Indian visa approvals.
Following the fall of the Awami League government, the High Commission of India has restricted visa operations in Bangladesh.
US-Bangla spokesperson Kamrul Islam told bdnews24.com: "Since Aug 5, the Indian visa process has almost stopped. In such a situation, passengers from Chattogram were not available at all. Losses were being counted on the flights. For this reason, flights from Chattogram to Kolkata have been suspended for the time being."
Private airline NovoAir previously operated seven weekly flights on the Dhaka-Kolkata route. However, after initially reducing the number to three, it had to halt all flights on the route from Sept 16 due to financial losses.
Ticket prices on the Dhaka-Kolkata route range from Tk 12,000 to Tk 18,000 based on the airline. The low passenger numbers have made it difficult to cover operating costs.
The state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines has reduced the flights from 14 to seven on the Dhaka-Kolkata route. The number of flights on the Dhaka-Chennai and Dhaka-Delhi routes has also decreased.
US-Bangla previously operated 21 weekly flights on the Kolkata route, with 14 from Dhaka and seven from Chattogram.
Currently, only six flights from Dhaka remain active.
On the Dhaka-Chennai route, flights have been reduced from 11 per week to five.
"If the visa process does not improve, the operation of flights on other routes in India will also have to be stopped. Currently, passengers from Chattogram are going to Kolkata via Dhaka. However, flight operations will resume on this route once the visa process is normalised," Kamrul added.
