After a considerable gap, Biman Bangladesh has resumed its flight services to Kolkata under a bubble agreement signed with India while the West Bengal health department is scheduled to hold a meeting today to decide on protocols for international passengers in the wake of the Covid delta variant outbreak.

The Kolkata airport has announced that Kolkata-Dhaka flight services have resumed from Sunday when a Biman Bangladesh flight BG4019 flew into NSCBI airport with 17 passengers and flew back to Dhaka with around 67 passengers.

The Biman Bangladesh airlines shared that it resumed its flight services with India and would fly to cities Kolkata and Delhi. The airline further stated that in the Kolkata-Dhaka route, from 7 September, two flights will be available in a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays while from 8 September in the Dhaka-Delhi route, flights will be available on Sundays and Wednesdays.

For the flight services to Kolkata, the airline said it would use a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 turboprop aircraft. A Biman Bangladesh official said, “This aircraft is fitted with HEPA filters that would help disinfect the air inside the aircraft, helping to get rid of any bacteria or viruses. The aircraft is also spacious and fitted with soothing LEDs to make the journey comfortable for our passengers.”

Adding to this, IndiGo too began flight services between Kolkata and Dhaka, An IndiGo flight flew to Dhaka on Sunday from Kolkata with 185 passengers and returned with 88 passengers in the evening.

However, even as the flight services have resumed, there is no respite from worries that plague these pandemic times. The state health department is likely to conduct a meeting today with all stakeholders, including Kolkata airport authorities, where it will decide on the protocols that need to be implemented in the wake of covid delta variant outbreak in several countries.

Sources said about seven countries are at present on the radar which includes Bangladesh apart from South Africa, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Bosnia.

A Kolkata airport official said at present all international passengers have to undergo mandatory Covid RT-PCR tests after landing at the Kolkata airport. Also, thermal screening is being done for all passengers and symptomatic ones have to undergo Covid tests. For symptomatic passengers, the state health authorities will decide the quarantine requirement on a case basis.

The Kolkata airport is also displaying banners for the ‘AirSewa’ utility-an initiative by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The portal will help travellers submit grievances and seek airport or flight information during their domestic journey