United News of Bangladesh

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia left Heathrow Airport tonight (Monday night) for Dhaka aboard a special air ambulance provided by the Emir of Qatar, as she is returning home nearly four months after receiving advanced treatment in London. “The special air ambulance provided by Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, carrying BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her entourage, took off around 9:35 pm (BST),” said BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan. He said the flight is scheduled to reach Hamad International Airport in Doha at 1:25am, local time, and will fly to Dhaka after a stopover of one hour and 35 minutes. Earlier, the BNP chief left the home of her elder son and BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman around 7pm (BST) and reached the airport in nearly 40 minutes. Tarique personally drove his mother to Heathrow Airport and saw her off there. Khaleda sat in the front seat beside Tarique, while Dr Zubaida Rahman and her daughter were in the back seats of the car on their way to the airport. A video posted by Tarique on his verified Facebook page shows him happily seeing his mother off and other entourage at the airport, saying “Allah Hafez”. Several hundred leaders and activists of the BNP’s UK Chapter gathered near the airport to see Khaleda off. As the party leaders and workers shouted slogans upon seeing Khaleda’s vehicle, she waved her hand towards them. Khaleda Zia is accompanied by her two daughters-in-law—Dr Zubaida Rahman, wife of her eldest son Tarique Rahman, and Syeda Shamila Rahman, wife of her late son Arafat Rahman Koko—along with other entourage members, including her medical team. “She is expected to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 10am Tuesday. We hope that she will reach Dhaka on time,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told UNB. Khaleda reaches Heathrow Airport for homecoming He urged party leaders and activists to remain alert and not cause any traffic jam during their way of giving the BNP chief a reception upon her return home, as there is an SSC exam scheduled for Tuesday. The BNP Secretary General has also urged law enforcers and party leaders and workers to ensure that no public inconvenience arises during the reception of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. Khaleda Zia travelled to London on January 8 in the same special air ambulance sent by the Emir of Qatar. Upon arrival, she was admitted to the London Clinic, a private hospital, where she remained under the care of renowned specialists Professor Patrick Kennedy and Professor Jennifer Cross for 17 days. Since 25 January, she has been receiving treatment at the residence of her elder son, Tarique Rahman. After 17 days at a London clinic, she had since been under the supervision of specialists Prof Patrick Kennedy and Prof Jennifer Cross at Tarique Rahman’s residence. Meanwhile, the BNP has completed all preparations to give the BNP chief a massive reception on her way back to her Gulshan residence from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Since the BNP chief will be travelling from Dhaka Airport to her residence in Gulshan via the Kakoli route, Fakhrul urged everyone not to stand on the road in any way. “Those who wish to welcome Madam should stand on the footpath and greet her from there. We have instructed that party leaders and activists may hold national and BNP flags while receiving her.” Khaleda heading towards Heathrow Airport for homecoming

London’s Heathrow Airport is capping daily passenger numbers for the summer and telling airlines to stop selling tickets as it steps up efforts to quell travel chaos caused by soaring travel demand and staff shortages. Britain’s busiest airport said Tuesday that it’s setting a limit of 100,000 passengers that it can handle each day through Sept. 11. The restriction is likely to result in more canceled flights even after airlines already slashed thousands of flights from their summer schedules. U.K. aviation authorities demanded that airlines ensure they can operate without disruption over the summer, with carriers not punished for not using their valuable takeoff and landing slots. They were responding to chaotic airport scenes as passengers complained about long lineups at security, lost luggage and lengthy flight delays. Even with that allowance, Heathrow, which had warned a day earlier that it may ask airlines to cut flights further, said it still expected more passengers than airport ground staff could handle. “Some airlines have taken significant action, but others have not, and we believe that further action is needed now to ensure passengers have a safe and reliable journey,” Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said in an open letter to passengers. Read: Dhaka requests London for resettlement of one lakh Rohingyas Airlines are expected to operate flights over the summer with an overall daily capacity of 104,000 seats, or 4,000 more than Heathrow can handle, the airport said. Only about 1,500 of the 4,000 extra daily seats have been sold to passengers. “So we are asking our airline partners to stop selling summer tickets to limit the impact on passengers,” Holland-Kaye said. British Airways, the airline with the biggest presence at Heathrow, has already cut 11% of its scheduled flights between April and October. It didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday on whether it would cancel more. Virgin Atlantic, which is also based at Heathrow, said it’s “ready to deliver its full schedule this summer” but supported the airport’s “proactive measures” to reduce disruption, as long they don’t have an outsized impact on its home carriers. Other European airports have imposed similar caps this summer. London’s Gatwick has limited daily flight numbers, while Amsterdam’s Schiphol cut its maximum daily passenger numbers by 13,500. Booming demand for summer travel after two years of COVID-19 travel restrictions have overwhelmed European airlines and airports that had laid off tens of thousands of pilots, cabin crew, check-in staff, ground crew and baggage handlers amid the depths of the pandemic. Heathrow has said it started a recruiting drive in November and expects security staffing to be back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of July. “However, there are some critical functions in the airport which are still significantly under-resourced, in particular ground handlers, who are contracted by airlines to provide check-in staff, load and unload bags and turnaround aircraft,” making it a “significant constraint” to overall capacity, Holland-Kaye said.