Air ambulance not coming for Khaleda Zia

The operator company has finally cancelled the air ambulance scheduled to take former prime minister and BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia to London, even though landing permission was not obtained. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that the operator has made a formal request for cancellation of the slot. The operator company has decided that the air ambulance scheduled to take Begum Zia to a hospital in London will not come.
The German-based company FAI Aviation Group had earlier received permission to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8 am on Tuesday (December 9). However, the operator concerned has applied for withdrawal of the slot approval through the local coordinating body. A senior official of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed the matter to us, saying, “FAI Aviation Group has applied for withdrawal of the previous slot approval through their local agent.” We are sending the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.’
Earlier, as per the operator’s initial application yesterday, permission was granted for the air ambulance to arrive in Dhaka at 8am next Tuesday and depart for London with Khaleda Zia at around 9pm. It is learnt that the air ambulance was chartered from Germany’s FAI Aviation Group with the assistance of the Qatari government. The aircraft used was a Bombardier Challenger 604, which is a popular long-range medical evacuation jet.
The Challenger 604 model is considered very suitable for Dhaka-London medical transfers as it is capable of transporting patients over long distances. No official explanation has been received from the operator or the BNP yet regarding the reason for the cancellation of the slot approval.