A Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight has returned to Dhaka more than seven hours late after making an emergency landing in Qatar's Doha due to the temporary closure of Saudi Arabia's Dammam airport.
The flight landed in Doha before continuing to Dammam. Its return service, BG-350, arrived at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport at 2:53pm on Monday.
In a statement on Monday, the flag carrier said the airport had been operating normally when the flight departed Dhaka, but the closure was announced while the aircraft was en route.
Considering passenger safety and operational requirements, the flight was diverted to Doha, where it landed at 2:27am Bangladesh time.
Dammam airport reopened about three hours later, according to Biman, while the flight eventually reached the Saudi city at 7:02am on Monday.
The return flight, BG-350, departed Dammam at 9:30am and landed at Shahjalal Airport at 2:53pm, seven hours and nine minutes behind schedule.
Biman apologised to passengers for the disruption.
The airline also cancelled its Dhaka-Dammam flight BG-349 scheduled for Monday, saying a further update would be provided by around noon on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, flight operations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have faced wider disruption amid security concerns in the kingdom.
So far, 16 IndiGo transit flights from Dhaka and 12 direct flights have been cancelled, bringing the total to 28.
The direct flight cancellations include four Biman services, two US-Bangla Airlines flights, three Saudia flights and three Riyadh Air flights.
Yemen's Houthi group has threatened attacks on airports across Saudi Arabia, except those in Makkah and Madinah.
Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport has come under attack at least five times.
The latest attack on Sunday left one person dead and 12 injured, while another attack on Saturday killed 13 people, including two Bangladeshis, and injured 308 others.
Among the injured were 24 Bangladeshis receiving treatment at hospitals in Saudi Arabia.