Qatar Airways has violated the official restriction on bringing passengers to Bangladesh from European countries except for UK, due to the worldwide outbreak of novel coronavirus.
The airlines have operated a flight with 96 passengers from the continent which was scheduled to land at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Monday (Mar 16) 6pm. As many as 68 passengers among them are flying from coronavirus-hit Italy.
On Sunday (Mar 15), the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) told a media call that no airlines can operate flights to Bangladesh from Europe except London.
Additionally, the aviation control body warned that failing to follow the ban, the airlines must return all of its passengers with their own responsibility.
Responding to a query from Bangla Tribune, CAAB chief M Mafidur Rahman said, “The foreign ministry has permitted the flight after the airlines authority sought permission.”
“However, the CAAB expressed its resentment to Qatar Airways. We will inform about our resentment over the issue to Qatar counterpart,” he said.
“After this one, no flight can land,” he added.
Noting that the passengers of the flight would be taken to Ashkona Hajj Camp for a medical checkup, Dhaka airport’s health official Shahriar Sazzad said, “If they don’t show COVID-19 symptoms, they will be kept in home-quarantine.”