Biman Bangladesh Airlines is not afraid of the cancellation of hajj flights this year as the national airliner has already sold about 99 percent tickets of its 365 pilgrimage flights, starting from July 4.

Mahbub Jahan Khan, marketing and sales director of the national flag carrier came up with the remarks at a press briefing at Biman’s headquarter in the capital.

“This year, we have taken some extra measures to operate the hajj flights …. so we are not scared of hajj flights cancellation like previous years”, he added. 

“We have already sold 99 percent of tickets, so we are confident that we will be able to operate hajj flight operations smoothly”, Mahbub said,

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has already issued nearly 62,500 tickets out of 63,599 pilgrims and is expected to issue tickets for rest within three days, Biman sources said.

Biman will not have to cancel any flight this year in the face of passenger shortage as the airline will not refund the ticket money if any pilgrim fails to board his or her scheduled flight.

Besides, the airline will charge $200 per ticket in case of changing the travel date.

The cost per ticket will rise to $300 if any pilgrim changes the travel date less than 24 hours of his or her scheduled flight.

A total of 1,27,198 Bangladeshis are about to perform hajj this year. Of them, Biman will carry 63,599 passengers, while Saudi Arabian Airlines will carry the rest.

Biman Managing Director and CEO Farhat Hassan Jamil and Director Administration Ziauddin Ahmed also spoke at the briefing, among others.

The first hajj flight BG-3001 will leave Hazrat Shahjajal International Airport with 419 pilgrims at 7:15am on July 4, Jamil said.

This year, for the first time, immigration formalities of nearly half of the Bangladeshi pilgrims will be completed in Dhaka.

The airline will operate 18 flights to Madina from Dhaka and 15 flights from Dhaka to Madina for the first time this year.

Apart from Dhaka, 19 hajj flights will be operated from Chattogram and three from Sylhet.