Biman’s flight chaos
Many migrant workers risk losing jobs
Several hundred passengers of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, waiting at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for last three days, still remain in the dark about their
flights as chaos triggered by a massive rescheduling of flights continued till Tuesday.
A number of migrant workers waiting for flights were worried as duration of their visas would soon expire, complained some of them.
Passengers going mainly to the Middle Eastern countries and Malaysia remained stranded at the airport, many of them for the last three days, for chaotic flight
schedules of Biman.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines apologised for the ‘unexpected situation’ caused after an Air Atlantic plane, leased by BIman, did not fly to Dhaka after dropping passengers
at Muscat airport on September 13.
Biman frequently failed to maintain its flight schedules since last week.
Biman officials said that more than 5,000 passengers were affected by the sudden reschedule during the rush hajj season, when the small-fleet airline depend heavily on
other carriers.
Passengers were seen waiting anxiously at the airport as their flights were rescheduled several times over the last few days.
Afzal, a 45-year-old passenger, told New Age, ‘I will be finished if I cannot catch a flight to Riyadh as my entry visa will expire on Friday.’ Biman rescheduled the
flight thrice till Tuesday evening, he said.
Like Afzal, a number of passengers waiting at the departure terminal said they did not know when they would fly for their respective destinations.
The airport sources said there was a noisy situation at the departure lounge Tuesday morning when Biman failed to accommodate some 40 passengers of a
flight originally scheduled for Sunday. Of them, 18 passengers were kept at a hotel in Uttara area.
Ahad Ali, who was scheduled to leave Dhaka on early Sunday for Riyadh, also said his flight was rescheduled thrice till Tuesday evening. He became sick after a long,
agonising wait at the airport.
Ahad said many migrant workers were at risk of losing their jobs if they could not report to work in time.
The Biman sources said the board of directors of the airlines at a meeting on September 4 decided to limit their regular flights on three routes and reduce the
frequency of flights on five other routes after failing to lease an aircraft to operate extra flights for hajj pilgrims.
The director (marketing and sales) of the national flag carrier, Mohammad Shah Newaz, told New Age on Tuesday that they were considering the issue of the passengers,
particularly of those whose visas would expire soon.
The passengers were requested to keep patience until September 25 when the authorities hoped they would be able to restore discipline in flight schedules, he said.
Shah Newaz said the disorder hit Biman as a leased Boeing 747, which could carry 505 passengers, left the fleet on September 12 without notice eight days before the
lease was scheduled to end.
The situation turned worse as a Boeing 777-300ER was grounded for 15 hours after a bird hit its engine on Sunday while it was landing at Dhaka airport, he said.
Courtesy of New Age
