Middle East-bound workers bearing 3 times higher air fare

Travel cost of Middle East-bound Bangladeshi workers has increased by at least three times due to seat crisis as a number of foreign carriers stopped their operations from Dhaka.

“Due to seat crisis, air fares in different destinations in Middle Eastern countries have been increased to around Tk 60,000 from Tk 20,000 in the recent times, causing worst effect to the workers,” SN Manzur Murshed, president of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), said at a press conference at his head office in Dhaka today.

ATAB is a platform of the country’s around 3,500 travel agents involved in travel related activities including ticketing, visa processing, Hajj and Umrah operations.

In the briefing, the ATAB chief said the seat crisis in different airlines took the worst shape since February for different destinations in the Middle East including Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Madina, Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Muscat, Kuwait and Sharjah.

The seat crisis began after Etihad Airways, Fly Dubai, Oman Airways and Jet Airways stopped their operations from Dhaka, he said.

“We have also come to know that Emirates Airways and Qatar Airlines have decided to decrease their weekly frequency of flights due to internal problems,” Manzur Murshed said.

“The latest decision of Jet Airways to stop its operation from Dhaka will deteriorate the ongoing seat crisis,” he added.    

Around 1,000 seat capacity on different Middle East-bound destinations are lost weekly due to the four airlines’ stopping operation from Dhaka, Manzur Murshed said giving a statistic.

Besides, demand for seats on destinations in the Middle East has increased a lot at present due to upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr and increasing number of umrah hajis from the country, he said.

Pointing to Jet Airways’ recent decision to stop operations from Dhaka for cash crisis, ATAB president said different travel agents bought around 5,000 tickets on different routes including Middle East.

“Due to Jet Airways’ sudden decision, many passengers who have already left Dhaka for traveling to different Middle East destinations on Jet Air, have been facing problem to return to Dhaka,” the ATAB chief said. 

In the briefing, ATAB leaders said sometimes they do not get tickets on Middle East destinations even after offering two to three times higher price.

They said workers are in risk of losing their jobs as they are not getting tickets to join their work on due date.

“Besides, the country is also losing foreign currency due to price hike of tickets,” said the ATAB chief.

In an eight-point recommendation, ATAB urged the government so that different airlines increase their flight frequencies to countries in the Middle East from Dhaka.

It also urged government to invite new foreign carriers to introduce their operations from Dhaka on different Middle Eastern destinations.

ATAB also urged Biman Bangladesh Airlines to reduce its frequencies on non-profit routes and increase flight frequencies on Middle East countries.

The other recommendations include automation of Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ reservation system and decreasing its air fare for migrant workers.

Around 2,000 passengers usually visit to different destinations in the Middle East every day, according to ATAB.