Several hundred Saudi bound migrant workers demonstrated at Dhaka Airport early Saturday due to cancellation of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines special flight.
The flight was scheduled to leave Dhaka at 6:15am. But Biman was forced to cancel the flight after Saudi authorities denied it landing permission.
Agitated passengers said they arrived at the airport at 1am and at around 2am Biman authorities informed them of the cancellation of the flight.
Tahera Khandoker, Deputy General Manager of Biman Bangladesh Airlines told The Business Post that the flight bound for Riyadh could not leave Dhaka as it was not allowed to land in Saudi Arabia.
201 passengers who checked in for the flight will be taken to a city hotel at the expense of Biman and they will fly to Riyadh on the next available flight, she added.
One more flight bound for Dammam and two for Dubai were cancelled for having insufficient passengers, said Tahera.
Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh suspended all international flights to and from Bangladesh for a week from April 14 due to a nationwide lockdown.
Due to the weeklong ban, around 20,000 to 25,000 expatriate workers are currently in uncertainty about reaching their workplaces abroad.
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