Cancellation of any hajj flight unlikely this year: Biman

Biman Bangladesh Airlines is not fearing cancellation of any hajj flight due to scarcity of passengers this year as the airlines has already sold 99 per cent tickets of its 365 hajj flights.

Biman’s Director (marketing and sales) Mahbub Jahan Khan gave the information on Monday at a press briefing at Balaka Bhaban in Dhaka. The national flag carrier will start carrying hajj pilgrims from July 4, reports BSS.

“We have already sold 99 per cent of tickets, so we are confident that we will be able to operate hajj flight operations smoothly”, Mahbub said.

“This year, we have also taken some extra measures to operate the hajj flights …. so we are not fearing to cancel hajj flights as like previous years”, he added.

Officials observes that they will not face scarcity of passengers as this year as Biman will not refund ticket money, if any pilgrim fails to travel on the scheduled flight.

Besides, the airline will charge $200 per ticket in case of changing travel date.

Moreover, the cost per ticket will rise to $300, if any pilgrim changes the travel date less than 24 hours of his/her scheduled flight.

Some 1,27,198 pilgrims from Bangladesh are set to perform hajj this year. Biman will carry 63,599 passengers, which is about half of the number of total hajj pilgrims. The remaining pilgrims will be flown by Saudi Airlines, the national carrier of Saudi Arabia.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has already issued nearly 62,500 tickets out of 63,599 pilgrims and expected to issue ticket for rest of around 1000 pilgrims within three days, sources said.

Biman’s Managing Director and CEO Farhat Hassan Jamil and Director Administration Ziauddin Ahmed also spoke, among others.

The first hajj flight BG-3001 will leave Hazrat Shahjajal International Airport with 419 pilgrims on board at 7.15am on July 4, Jamil said.

State minister for civil aviation and tourism M Mahbub Ali and state minister for religious affairs advocate Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah will be present at the airport to see off the pilgrims, he added.

This year for the first time, the immigration formalities of nearly half of Bangladeshi pilgrims will be completed in Dhaka.

Among the 365 flights, Biman will operate 189 pre-hajj flights, 157 dedicated and 32 scheduled flights from July 4 till August 5 and 176 post-hajj flights, 147 dedicated and 29 scheduled flights from August 17 to September 15 by its own four Boeing 777-300ER.

The airline will operate 18 flights to Medina from Dhaka and 15 flights from Dhaka to Medina for the first time this year. Apart from Dhaka, 19 hajj flights will be operated from Chattogram while three from Sylhet.