Heavy fog disrupted services at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for 10 hours, delaying a number of domestic and international flights.
The fog was too heavy for planes to land or take off between 12:40am until about 10am on Wednesday, Civil Aviation Authority’s spokesman AKM Rezaul Karim said.
“Services on domestic routes resumed around 9:30am as the fog lifted.”
According to the airport website, at least 20 international flights were scheduled to land during the ten-hour delay.
At least six were diverted to other airports, said Rezaul Karim.
A Thai Airlines flight was diverted to Bangkok around 12:15am after it could not land in Dhaka. A Saudi Airlines flight scheduled to land at 12:55am was diverted to Kolkata.
A cargo plane from China was diverted to Myanmar around 12:50am. A Gulf Air flight was diverted to Kolkata around 4am and a US-Bangla Flight was diverted to Chittagong.
Flights from Biman Bangladesh Airlines, China Southern, Emirates, Malindo Air, Kuwait Air and Air Asia were unable to depart on time due to the fog.
A VIP flight carrying Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim left Dhaka for Cox’s Bazar around 10:15am, said Rezaul Karim. Flights resumed regular services around 11am, he added.
According to Biman Bangladesh Airlines Public Relations General Manager Shakil Miraz, the heavy fog caused delays on many flights.
Though Biman BG 039 was scheduled to fly to Riyadh at 1:15pm, the heavy fog delayed it until 11:15am.
BG 096 flight from Kolkata was to arrive at 10:30am, but was delayed.
Biman’s BG 411 flight from Dhaka to Chittagong was also delayed by 1.5 hours from its scheduled departure time of 9:30am, according to bdnews24.
BG 433 from Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar left at 10:30pm, two hours after the scheduled departure time.
BG 087 from Kuala Lumpur had to spend some time in the air due to the fog.
Fog has caused delays at Shahjalal International Airport for the past few days. Similar delays occurred on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.