At least 11 flights from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka to Sharjah and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Doha in Qatar and Kuwait were disrupted on Tuesday amid tension over the Iranian airstrikes on a United States airbase in Qatar.
The disruption occurred as the authorities in Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspaces following the airstrikes, said a press release issued by the HSIA authorities on Tuesday.
According to the HSIA authorities, three flights of the US Bangla Airlines bound for Sharjah, Dubai and Doha returned to Dhaka Airport after flying half of the distance.
The HSIA authorities said that the flights were delayed by up to five hours.
The disrupted flights include Sharjah bound two Air Arabia flights and one US Bangla flight, Dubai bound one Emirates and one US Bangla Airlines flight, Doha bound two Qatar Airways flights, one Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight and one US Bangla Airlines flight, and two Kuwait bound Jazeera Airways flights, according to the HSIA authorities.
‘Although the flight disruptions began in the morning, the flights resumed in the afternoon as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain reopened their airspaces,’ HSIA executive director Group Captain SM Ragib Samad told New Age in the evening.
The release said that three flights of the US Bangla Airlines bound to Sharhjah, Dubai and Doha returned to Dhaka airport after crossing half of the path.
‘Three flights then took off from the airport about four hours later. I have no such information of entire flight cancellation so far,’ he said.
The United States military involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict escalated tensions in the Middle Eastern airspaces.
