The authorities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport today organised a public hearing to improve quality of passenger service and to know complaints of the passengers.

Interestingly most of the passengers complained about the poor quality of services of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier.

The public hearing was held at the Concourse Hall at the Departure Terminal of HSIA with Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman participating as the chief guest.

Mohammad Riad Sarkar from Daudkandi in Cumilla asked the first question in the public hearing. He alleged that he was scheduled to board a flight to Saudi Arabia at 3:00pm today by Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

He said that after arriving at the airport, he came to know that the flight would be delayed.

"In a bid to get further information, I went to Biman's counter. But I didn't get any cooperation from the Biman staff there. They treated me like a beggar when I went to the plane counter," Riad said.

The CAAB chairman who was present at the hearing on behalf of Biman, expressed his dissatisfaction as no one from Biman was present at the programme. The representatives of various domestic and foreign airlines were present at the hearing. Seeing this, the CAAB chairman instructed the representative of Biman to attend the hearing in five minutes.

"We apologise for the inconvenience," the CAAB chairman told Riad.

"I'm sorry that you arrived in the morning, but the flight will leave at night due to delay and Biman authorities did not inform you about this. Biman didn't act properly. We will ask Biman authorities in this regard," he also said.

"There is a help desk at the airport if anyone is prevented from getting services, there are magistrates. The responsible persons are punished when allegations are made. Everyone at the airport has to be held accountable. Those who fail to provide services are fined. We are trying to increase the passenger service," the CAAB chief also said.

After around 10 minutes, Arifuzzaman Khan, station manager of Biman, appeared before the public hearing.

"We apologise for the sufferings of Riad," he said at the public hearing. "We are taking action after hearing the matter."

Touhidul Islam from Cumilla complained about the high price of air tickets of Biman to various destinations in the Middle East.

In response, Mofidur said, the price of tickets is mainly a matter of the concerned airlines. The government has tried to reduce the price following discussion with different airlines. Biman has already reduced fares, he added.

Golam Mostafa, a Saudi-bound passenger, said it takes less time to complete immigration in different airports. In contrast, immigration at the Dhaka airport takes much time.

"After landing at the airport, it takes more than two hours to get your luggage. Why does it happens?

In response CAAB chairman said, "We would ask from the Biman authorities why the flight was delayed. As far as I know, Biman is getting out of this problem."

The public hearing was attended by the outgoing Executive Director of HSIA Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, the newly appointed Executive Director of HSIA, Group Captain Kamrul Islam and other senior officials of CAAB.