& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Flight dearth puts ME-bound workers in deep distress

INAM AHMED with ABDUR RAHIM
Abdus Sattar, 37, came from Riyadh about three weeks ago. He has to go back to work in about a week but finds himself in a big mess -- his return ticket is yet to be confirmed.
For the last two days, he has been queuing up in front of the airline office at Sonargaon Hotel and getting the same reply every day: "Sorry, the flights are all booked." If Sattar cannot go back to Riyadh in time, he may lose his job.
Sattar's plight is not a lone case. Every day, there are scores facing the same uncertainty.
And airlines put the blame on the government's refusal to increase their flight frequencies, which they have been seeking for long.
Labour flow to the Middle East has increased steeply over the years, outpacing the number of flights.
At least eight airlines are operating directly or indirectly to various Middle East destinations. And most
of them have been seeking an increase in their flight frequencies.
Qatar Airways operates five flights a week to Doha and wants two more flights. Emirates in its quick expansion strategy eyes 14 flights a week to Dubai against the current nine flights.
Kuwait Airways wants six flights a week to Kuwait City instead of the present four, Gulf Air expects to add two flights from June instead of the current seven, Iran Air flies to Tehran via Dubai once a week and wants one more flight.
In addition, PIA operates three flights a week to the Middle East, Malaysia Airlines four flights and Biman 34 flights. New players are also waiting in the wings. An Abu Dhabi-based new airliner -- Al Ittehad -- expects to operate to Dhaka soon, Yemen Airways will operate to Sanaa via Bombay and Royal Brunei will also start operation soon. Right now it is carrying
FROM PAGE 1
passengers to Dubai via Kolkata.
In addition, several other airlines also cater to the Middle East market. They include PIA, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei through Kolkata, Air India through Mumbai and the national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Still, the seats from Dhaka are not adequate in several times of the year.
Two new airlines -- Yemen Airways and Phuket Airways -- are also going to enter Bangladesh operation with an eye on the Middle East market. Few more are in the process of starting their flights, which includes the newly launched Al Etihad of Abu Dhabi and Royal Brunei. The lone domestic carrier GMG Airlines is also interested on the Middle East route.
The airlines now squarely blame Biman for refusing to allow them to operate more flights to meet rising demand. Whenever they apply for more frequencies, Biman would flatly object to it on the ground that this would mean passenger loss for the national flag carrier.
But Mahmoodur Rahman, director (marketing and sales) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said instead of doing point-to-point operations, the Middle Eastern airlines are carrying passengers from Bangladesh to third countries using their home country as
a stopover. This impacts Biman's passenger volume.
"Passengers from Bangladesh to the home countries of most of the Middle Eastern airlines constitute only 30 percent of the total passengers. The airlines are sending the rest 70 percent passengers from Bangladesh to European and other destinations with connecting flights," he said.
Biman has no objection if the airlines want to increase flight frequency on point-to-point routes. But the airlines want increased flight frequency to carry passengers to a third country which would further affect Biman's traffic to European and other countries, he told The Daily Star.
Whatever be the reason, Biman is still losing hard currencies in terms of handling charge because of its refusal to allow more frequencies. For each Airbus handling it gets $4,900, $5,600 for a DC-10 and $7,000 for a Boeing 747. On top of it, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh gets $1,470 for an Airbus landing and $2,581 for a DC-10 or 747.
But more at stake is probably the jobs of poor workers like Sattar. The airlines find little profit in confirming their tickets while their flights are always overbooked.