Staff Correspondent

There is no air transport agreement between Bangladesh and Israel. No Israeli aircraft has landed in Bangladesh, said Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) on Saturday.

Responding to a news report published in different national dailies and online news portals under the headline "Aircrafts arrive in Dhaka from Israel", the CAAB in a statement said on Saturday (April 13) that publishing such a confusing news is nothing but "undesirable and motivated."

The statement signed by CAAB deputy director (Public Relations) Mohammad Sohel Kamruzzaman, has requested all concerned to refrain from publishing such a news. It also explained that why two cargo aircrafts on two different dates arrived in Dhaka directly from Tel Aviv in Israel.

The statement reads that a cargo flight landed on Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 7:22pm after taking off from Tel Aviv Airport on April 7 to transport Bangladesh's ready-made garments to the Middle East and Europe. The flight left the Dhaka Airport at 9:55pm on the same day.

Another flight arrived in Dhaka from Tel Aviv at 7:55pm on April 11 last and took off from the Dhaka Airport at 12:29am on April 12. Both the aircrafts are registered in the United Staes and belong to the National Airlines of that country.

In its statement, the CAAB says that there is a bilateral air transport agreement between Bangladesh and the United States. Both the cargo flights came in Dhaka according to that agreement. The cargo flights left for Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a destination of Europe with the ready-made apparels from Dhaka.

Meanwhile, the landing of two cargo flights at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka coming directly from Tel Aviv in Israel has created controversies in social media.

One of the two cargo flights landed in Dhaka on April 7 and departed after about four hours and a half. The other one landed on April 11 and departed on early Friday after about four hours and a half.

Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport executive director Group Captain Kamrul Islam said on Friday that the flights came directly from Tel Aviv and the two cargo aircraft were registered with the United States.

Bangladesh has air transport agreement, including open sky option, with the United States, he said.

He added that the cargo flights did not drop anything at Dhaka airport rather and only took apparels from garment factories to Sharjah and a European destination.