Int’l flights resume at Ctg airport on 28 Aug

International flights are set to resume at Chattogram's Shah Amanat International Airport after over four months amid the same old problem of a lack of Covid-19 testing facilities.   

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight will leave Dubai International Airport on 28 August and land at Shah Amanat airport, said the airport's Manager Wing Commander M Farhad Hossain Khan.

He told The Business Standard Biman and Flydubai had so far decided to resume international flights while Air Arabia would do so next month.

Flights with Oman are still closed due to restrictions, but a decision may come soon, he added.   

There is still no thermal scanner at the airport to detect Covid-19 among travellers, a limitation that led the airport authorities to suspend international flights on 14 April.  

Though there is a thermal scanner at the airport, it remains out of order for a long time.

The limitation forced health workers to check passengers' health conditions using infrared and general thermometers before the 14 April suspension.

Farhad said the health authorities would supervise measures to check the spread of Covid-19 via travellers.   

He said security officials, like before, would use general thermometers to measure the body temperature of travellers and check their vaccination documents.    

Any suspected Covid-19 patient would be quarantined at Chattogram Railway Hospital, he added.   

Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad Central Organising Secretary AMM Minhazur Rahman said the authorities concerned must determine what problems the resumption of international flights would lead to.

He said many travellers arrive at and depart from the Chattogram airport, and any of them might spread Covid-19.

The health authorities have to arrange the necessary equipment, including thermal scanners, to control the spread of the virus at the airport, said Minhazur, also the Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad coordinator of Covid-19 affairs in Chattogram.          

Chattogram Civil Surgeon Sheikh Fazle Rabbi and Chattogram Division Director (Health) Dr Hasan Shahriar Kabir could not be reached for comments over the phone.

Dr Biddut Barua of Chattogram Field Hospital told The Business Standard travellers coming from abroad would have to receive Covid-19 negative certificates from their respective countries.

This would also apply to those boarding flights from Bangladesh, he said.

He also said there must be thermal scanners at Shah Amanat airport, which is a key gateway.  

In the pre-pandemic period, Shah Amanat airport would see the arrival and departure of around 4,500 travellers, including 1,500 on international routes, daily