KOLKATA: Flights between Kolkata and Dhaka resumed after a four-month hiatus with IndiGo and Biman Bangladesh operating near capacity flights on the Kolkata-Dhaka sector on Sunday. But the flights on the Dhaka-Kolkata leg had few passengers. Most of the passengers on the Dhaka-bound flights were those who had been stranded in Kolkata and elsewhere in the country for months.
Airlines officials, though, said conditions set by the civil aviation authorities of the countries could prove a damper and discourage flyers. While India has made it mandatory for even fully vaccinated flyers to get RT-PCR tests done prior to departure as well as on arrival, Bangladesh has made 14-day home quarantine mandatory on arrival.
On Sunday, the Biman Bangladesh Dash-8 aircraft with a capacity of 70 seats (flights have been allowed to operate at 90% capacity) flew in with only 17 passengers while the departing flight had 67 passengers on board. The IndiGo flight left Kolkata with 185 passengers and returned to Kolkata in the evening with 88 passengers. The Air India flight on Monday is also booked to capacity on Kolkata-Dhaka sector.
