High Airfare to Mideast: Bring it down

Expressing concern over the high airfare to different Middle Eastern destinations, the expatriates' welfare ministry yesterday sent a letter to the civil aviation ministry to take measures for reducing the air ticket prices.

"We have taken the issue very seriously. We have already raised the issue before different forums concerned. Our minister gave a demi official (DO) letter to the inter-ministerial meeting to address the issue," Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, secretary of the expatriates' welfare ministry, told The Daily Star.

In the letter, Munirus said they have requested the civil aviation ministry to bring the airfare down to a logical level.

Asked about introducing "labour fare" for the outbound expatriate Bangladeshi workers, Munirus said his ministry is working on it.

Airfares for flights to different Middle Eastern countries have now doubled, adding pressure on migrant workers returning to their workplaces.

In November, airfares for different Middle Eastern countries were between Tk 40,000 and Tk 45,000. At present, the prices are between Tk 70,000 and Tk 90,000, which is totally illogical and unexpected, said Bangladeshi expatriates.

In this situation, leaders of Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (Atab) and Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies have demanded that the government form a regulatory board immediately to address the issue.

They said thousands of Bangladeshi workers could not return to their workplaces in different Middle Eastern countries on time due to high airfares.

Monsur Ahmed Kalam, president of Atab, a platform of around 3,500 registered travel agencies, said the airfare for the Dhaka-Dubai or Dhaka-Abu Dhabi route is now Tk 87,000, which was Tk 40,000 just last month.

He added that the airfare for Dhaka-Muscat route is Tk 72,000, which was Tk 35,000 a few months ago.

The airfares for Riyadh, Jeddah and Madina from Dhaka were between Tk 42,000 and 45,000. Now, they are between Tk 75,000 and Tk 80,000, said Atab leaders.

It costs Tk 1.10 lakh to Tk 1.20 lakh to go to Bahrain by Gulf Air, said sources at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

On the contrary, airfare of different Middle Eastern countries in Nepal, Sri Lanka and India is lower than that of Bangladesh, they said.

They also demanded additional flights to Middle Eastern destinations of Biman and other airlines concerned be operated so that the airfare can be brought back to previous rates.

A top official of Biman Bangladesh Airlines said the air ticket price has increased due to high demand and shortage of seats.

"Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we are now flying four flights weekly to different destinations in Saudi Arabia which was seven in the past. For shortage of seats, airfare has gone up," he said, wishing anonymity.

M Mahbub Ali, state minister for civil aviation, yesterday told this correspondent that they would request different airlines to reduce the airfare.