Local airlines are bracing for a big rush of home-bound passengers ahead of Eid-ul Fitr, expected to be celebrated in the country on June 5 or 6.
To cope with the increased number of passengers, the airlines have also added more flights to their festival-season schedules. Still, air passengers eager to book tickets have already outnumbered the seats of those flights, said the operators.
Most air tickets for the dates from May 30 through June 5 have been sold out, they said.
Also, return tickets for the dates from June 6 through June 15 have been sold out or booked.
Many passengers claimed they couldn't manage to get tickets even after trying to book them since the beginning of Ramadan.
Moreover, the airline companies and travel agents have raised the prices of tickets, they said.
With the growing income of the middle-class segment of society, the demand for air travel has surged, as many passengers now opt for air journey to avoid hassles.
Presently, four airlines are operating in the domestic market -- Novoair, US-Bangla Airlines, Regent Airlines and the state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
Senior Manager of Novoair AKM Mahfuzul Alam said the number of passengers has been rising gradually and it becomes extremely difficult for the airlines to cater to the extra rush of passengers during Eid vacations.
He said Novoair would operate two extra flights (return) on Dhaka-Saidpur route, one extra flight to Rajshahi and two extra flights to Jashore from May 30 onwards during the festive season.
More than 98 per cent of tickets of all domestic flights for the days before the Eid have already been sold out, he said, adding: "Still, people are visiting the website to get tickets online."
Shakil Meraj, spokesperson of Biman, said that although the state-owned airline has enhanced its passenger-carrying capacity, it is not enough to meet the demand.
"You will see most of the seats of an airplane occupied even in normal days," he said.
Officials of US-Bangla Airlines said most tickets of its domestic flights for the days before the Eid have been either sold or booked.
The airlines now runs eight flights on Dhaka-Chattogram route, four on Dhaka-Jashore route, three on Dhaka-Saidpur route, two each to Sylhet and Cox's Bazar and one each to Rajshahi and Barishal.
Apart from non-availability of tickets, high prices of tickets have irked the holidaymakers.
They alleged that all the airlines extend many lucrative offers to passengers in normal times but are charging double or triple the prices of flight tickets since the beginning of Ramadan.
"A discounted ticket to Saidpur from Dhaka can be bought for Tk 2,375 to Tk 3,200 as of May 20, but it now costs over Tk 8,000," said Ishtiaque Chowdhury, a senior officer of a state-run bank.
"I tried to buy tickets for May 31 in the first week of this month only to find each ticket selling at above Tk 8,000," he said.
He also said low prices of air tickets have lured the middle-income people into making air trips within the country nowadays.
The airlines are witnessing an uptrend in the number of air travellers throughout the year, thanks to the growing number of middle-income passengers, said Mr Ishtiaque.
"But we are not getting any facility during the festive season," he lamented.
According to the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), the highest capacity of the airlines to carry domestic passengers is only 9,000 a day, whereas the demand for air tickets skyrockets during festive occasions like Eid -- over 50,000 a day.
