The first special chartered flight taking British visitors from Bangladesh to the United Kingdom will leave Dhaka for London on Tuesday afternoon.
It is scheduled to take off from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 3:00pm, reports UNB.
British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson said he is very conscious that the process for arranging these special flights has been less smooth than they might have wished.
"We’re working very hard with our commercial partner CTM to try to make sure that we learn the lessons from the processes we’ve had in action for this flight so that the next three flights later in the week are smoother. We apologise for the confusion in meantime," he said in a video message on Tuesday.
Dickson said it is very important that they have a sense of the overall demand in Bangladesh for British visitors to return home.
"If you haven’t booked on our CTM portal please do that straight away, so that we know the overall number of people who will need to be going home," he said.
Four chartered flights from Bangladesh to the UK will take home up to 850 British nationals.
Three more chartered flights of the British Airways will leave Dhaka on April 23, 25 and 26 April, with accompanying transfers from Sylhet.
Earlier, British Foreign Office Minister of State Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon said their staff will continue to support Britons who remain in Bangladesh throughout this crisis, and beyond.
"We are in a truly unprecedented situation, and I know people are concerned about getting home to their loved ones," he said.
The British High Commission Dhaka, however, will remain in operation and continue to provide consular support to any British nationals who remain in Bangladesh and require assistance.
The British government asked its nationals in Bangladesh who wish to return home to express an interest.
Priority is initially being given to vulnerable passengers, most at risk from the effects of coronavirus, including the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, according to British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
