Dhaka: Country’s flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines on January 4 announced to cut ticket prices on different routes to Middle East effective from January 16.

The airfares on different routes were slashed from BDT 7,000 to BDT 13,000.

Biman officials said, according to reports, the slashed airfare would be applicable for flights to Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and it will continue as always.

The national flag carrier mentioned the one-way maximum fare for each economy class ticket on the Dhaka-Jeddah route has been reduced from BDT 72,455 to BDT 64,820 inclusive of tax.

The maximum one-way economy class fare on the Dhaka-Riyadh or Dammam routes have been reduced from BDT 70,758 to BDT 63,123.

For the Dhaka-Dubai route, the maximum one-way economy class fare has been reduced from BDT 75,508 to BDT 62,784 while the maximum one-way economy class fare on the Dhaka-Abu Dhabi route has been reduced from BDT 67,025 to BDT 58,542.

However, passengers, especially the expatriate workers, would not be able to avail this benefit as Biman has no ticket available until March, reports said.

On the other hand, Recruiting Agency Welfare Organisation of Bangladesh claimed that the slashed amount is nominal while the airfare for Biman still remained very high.

Fakhrul Islam, President of Recruiting Agency Welfare Organisation of Bangladesh, on January 4 noted, giving a comparison between Bangladesh and its neighbouring countries’ airfare to Riyadh, the fare on Colombo-Riyadh route is BDT 38,000, while airfare on Mumbai-Riyadh route is around BDT 32,000.

Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh and leaders of recruiting agencies have been lately demanding to operate additional flights to Middle East destinations by Biman and other airlines so that airfare could be brought back to usual rates.

Even, in November, airfares for different Middle Eastern countries were between BDT 40,000 and BDT 45,000, sighed Fakhrul Islam.