Rashidul Hasan

Biman Bangladesh Airlines cancelled all its domestic flights due to lack of passengers yesterday, a day after the government reopened public transport amid escalation of Covid-19 cases.

Local airlines yesterday saw an underwhelming response on the first day of the resumption of regular passenger flights on three domestic routes, following more than two months of flight suspension, sources at different airlines said.

The daily order of business of this year’s budget session will be carried out with minimum lawmakers in the House, in an attempt to maintain social distancing and avoid the risk of novel coronavirus infection.

All 1,203 Bangladeshis who returned to the country in 24 hours till yesterday -- most of whom migrant workers who had remained in detention camps or prisons of Middle Eastern countries -- were allowed to stay in home quarantine, causing concerns over spread of Covid-19.

The government is going to significantly raise bus fares, making travelling costlier for people already struggling with unemployment and reduced income amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The national airline Biman and two local airlines -- US-Bangla Airlines and Novoair -- are preparing to resume domestic flight operation from June 1 following the health guideline prescribed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.

The civil aviation ministry yesterday decided to resume domestic flight operations on a limited scale from June 1. The resumption comes after more than two months of ban on regular passenger flights on all international and domestic routes to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.

While the country sees the numbers of Covid-19 patients and deaths surge sharply, the government yesterday announced the end of the temporary shutdown.

Thousands of people continued to leave Dhaka yesterday as the government apparently relaxed travel restrictions ahead of the Eid.

Cyclone Amphan has left behind a trail of destruction in the country’s coastal areas, affecting more than a million people in nine districts in Khulna and Barishal divisions.

The global coronavirus pandemic will leave a long-lasting stain on the aviation sector, said a top official of Regent Airways, a domestic private carrier.

The country’s airline industry is grappling with strong headwinds and may drift further towards the verge of collapse without substantial financial support from the government, according to Mofizur Rahman, managing director of domestic carrier Novoair.

After US-Bangla Airlines, national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines has fully started air-freight service using its passenger aircrafts.

Thousands of people have begun to leave Dhaka for their village homes ahead of the Eid, ignoring the risks of contracting the coronavirus and spreading it to many others.

Bangladesh should unveil a rescue package and cut various charges to salvage the local aviation industry after it crash-landed because of the coronavirus pandemic, said the top official of a private airline.

Expert panel warns government about 29,000 returning from Middle East and says institutional quarantine a must to avert bigger disaster.

The agriculture ministry yesterday took some initiatives and put forth several recommendations to improve the transportation and marketing of seasonal fruits in an attempt to reduce food waste as well as the loss of farmers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) has issued guidelines for air operators, airports and passengers as part of its efforts to resume flight operations on domestic and international routes on a limited scale after May 16.

Over one lakh Bangladeshis in different Middle Eastern countries are suffering acute hunger while many other Bangladeshis have become unemployed amid the shutdown of economies across the world.

On the first day of the reopening of some markets in the capital yesterday amid the Covid-19 outbreak, many shoppers and store staffers were found to have flouted the directives of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, laying people’s health safety on the line.