475 International Flights Cancelled in 15 Days at Dhaka Airport Amid Middle East Airspace Crisis

A total of 24 international flights at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka were cancelled on Saturday, 14 March, after air routes became unsafe due to the ongoing war situation in the Middle East.

According to sources at the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), the cancelled flights on 14 March included two flights of Kuwait Airways, two flights of Air Arabia (Sharjah, UAE), four flights of Gulf Air (Bahrain), four flights of Qatar Airways (Qatar), four flights of Emirates (United Arab Emirates), four flights of Jazeera Airways (Kuwait), and four flights of flydubai (United Arab Emirates), bringing the total number of cancelled flights to 24.

It may be noted that due to security risks arising from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan temporarily closed their airspace from 28 February.

As a result, flights from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka were cancelled as follows: 23 flights on 28 February, 40 flights on 1 March, 46 flights on 2 March, 39 flights on 3 March, 28 flights on 4 March, 36 flights on 5 March, 34 flights on 6 March, 28 flights on 7 March, 28 flights on 8 March, 33 flights on 9 March, 32 flights on 10 March, 27 flights on 11 March, 28 flights on 12 March, and 25 flights on 13 March.

Altogether, the total number of cancelled flights over the past 15 days has reached 475.

DBTech/DHE/EK/OR