Despite a fall in migrant movement to the Middle East, revenues of Dubai-based carrier Emirates from Bangladesh were not affected as it banked more on travellers to long-haul destinations, Europe and the US, an official said yesterday.
“We witnessed a huge pressure of labour traffic in 2008. But when travel by migrant workers declined, we got enough seats to carry more long-haul passengers,” said Satish Sethi, newly appointed country manager of Emirates in Bangladesh.
“Fares on long-haul tickets are much higher than the tickets for migrant workers. That’s why a reduction in labour movement did not affect us in terms of revenue,” he told newsmen at Sonargaon Hotel.
Emirates’ Public Relations Manager for Corporate Communications Siobhan Bardet was also present.
New jobs for migrant workers slumped to 4.75 lakh in 2009 from 8.75 lakh in 2008, according to data by the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).
Emirates, operating out of Dhaka for the last 24 years, said the labour passengers account for about 20 percent of its revenue generated from Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh is a high growth market with a lot of potential,” said Sethi, declining to share revenue and passenger data. He claimed Emirates carries 20 percent of travellers out of Dhaka and looked to carry more in future.
Sethi said the airliner hopes to fly four times a day in future, to tap the growing market. “At this time, this is on our wish list. But it depends on approval from the Bangladesh government. We hope we will be able to increase frequency accordingly.”
The carrier now operates 17 flights from Dhaka to Dubai and offers connections to 105 cities in 64 countries.
To tap into Bangladesh’s air travel market, the carrier also moves to lure holidaymakers by placing discounted fares at $499 for a Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka trip, down from $650.
Emirates said the special fare will be valid for weekends only — passengers will have to travel from Dhaka on Thursdays and Fridays and return on Saturdays and Sundays. The new fare will remain effective until December 31.
The 151-fleet carrier also looks to bank on travellers to the US and Canada as it is going to open flights to Los Angeles and Houston.
“There has been a rise in traffic to the US and Canada from Bangladesh,” the Emirates official said.
Sethi expects traffic to European destinations would also grow after it launches flights to new destinations like Madrid, Prague and Amsterdam.
