Biman Bangladesh Airlines will use its own aircraft to operate Hajj flights this year, instead of taking aircraft on lease as in previous years.
The number of aircraft that will be used and the price of tickets for the Dhaka-Jeddah-Dhaka flights are yet to be finalized, Biman officials said.
The Biman authorities decided to use only their own aircraft during the national carrier's 283rd board meeting held recently. The decision was taken based on experiences from last year's Hajj flights.
Last year, the fare for each pilgrim had been fixed at Tk1,40,000 and a total of 130 flights were operated to carry pilgrims.
Biman last year used its four Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft to operate Hajj and regular flights to Saudi Arabia.
Biman Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer Shafiul Azim recently told Dhaka Tribune a committee was working to determine how to smoothly operate hajj flights. Another meeting will be held regarding Hajj flights in the near future.
Last year, Biman Director (Corporate Planning and Training) Mahbub Jahan Khan signed an agreement with the Lithuania-based Heston Airlines that was approved at Biman's 276th board meeting.
This time, the Biman board opposed the proposal. State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali also rejected all lease proposals over irregularities in Biman's lease situation.
Mahbub Jahan Khan had been preparing guidelines on how to lease aircraft in the future.
Hajj flights in last week of May
The government is likely to start Hajj flights in the last week of May. The Hajj agreement between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia was signed on January 9.
The Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAB) has called upon the Saudi government to reduce the hardships of pilgrims through proper management.
Under the agreement, Bangladesh will be able to send around 127,198 people to perform Hajj in 2023.
According to the ministry of religious affairs, the quota of Hajj pilgrims for Bangladesh was 58,628 in 2009, which was increased to around 127,000 in 2019.
Altogether 60,000 people from Bangladesh were allowed to perform Hajj in 2022. Of the total number of pilgrims, Biman carried half and two Saudi Arabian airlines – Saudia and Flynas –carried the rest
US-Bangla Airlines has plans in place to operate flights to Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam from next June.
Md Kamrul Islam, general manager (public relations) of US-Bangla, told Dhaka Tribune: “We have plans to operate Hajj and Umrah flights, but our first target is to operate regular flights to Saudi Arabia.
“Later, we will try to get permission from the General Authority of the Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia (GACA), Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), and the Civil Aviation and Tourism ministry to operate hajj flights,” he added.
