A direct flight from Israel’s Tel Aviv landed in Dhaka at around 8 pm on Eid day. There is a lot of curiosity about this in different quarters. The news was published in the online news portals of several newspapers.
Two days after this incident, on Saturday, April 13, a notification signed by the Deputy Director (Public Relations) of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Mohammad Sohail Kamruzzaman was sent to the media.
According to the notification, it is said that, the attention of CAA has been attracted to the news published in the online edition of various newspapers and social media under the title ‘Israeli Airplane landed in Dhaka’. For carrying Bangladeshi readymade garments to Middle East and Europe, one flight took off from Tel Aviv on April 7 and landed in Dhaka at 7:22 pm and took off from Dhaka at 11:55 pm with cargo; while the other one landed in Dhaka on 11 April at night and took off at 12:30 midnight with cargo. Both planes are registered in the United States and belong to National Airlines.
The circular also said, ‘Bangladesh and the United States have a bilateral aviation agreement. As per the aviation agreement, two cargo flights arrived in Dhaka. The garment carrying flights from Dhaka went to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and a destination in Europe. There is no aviation agreement between Bangladesh and Israel and no Israeli aircraft has landed in Bangladesh.
The notification also said that there is a possibility of creating confusion in the public mind as a result of various online magazines and social media reporting the issue under the title ‘Airplane from Israel has arrived in Dhaka’. Moreover, such misleading news coverage is considered unintended and purposeful. All concerned are requested to refrain from reporting such news.
According to flight tracking website FlightRadar 24, the flight arrived at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport after a 6-hour flight from Tel Aviv at around 8:00 PM Bangladesh time on Eid last Thursday.