Amid the mad dash to go home for the Eid Holidays, the demand for plane tickets has risen considerably even amid the health directives and lockdown where 80% of all available tickets have been sold.
This demand is also fueled by the fact that there are only a small number of tickets available since airlines are not allowed to book the entire plane and there are restrictions on the number of flights.
In the last few days, thousands have made their way down to ferry terminals and bus terminals to get home.
After the cabinet meeting on Monday, the cabinet secretary announced the extension of the lockdown until May 16.
As a result, ticket prices went up due to high demand, selling from Tk5,400 to Tk10,800, varying in class and routes.
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According to airlines sources and travel agencies, 80% of the tickets from Dhaka to various destinations have already run out, with return tickets sold at stipulated prices.
However, return tickets after May 16 are being sold at prices higher than the usual fares.
Mohammad Anwar Hossain, owner of the travel agency Zamzam Travels, said: "The demand for air tickets is very high now. But we are unable to provide the tickets because the number of flights is lower than the demand. People are buying advance tickets for May 10-12 considering that Eid-ul-Fitr may be observed on May 13.”
Airlines officials say some tickets were sold from the scheduled 11 flights from May 6, in hopes that the lockdown could end. But now they are in jeopardy with the sold tickets, as the lockdown period has extended until May 16.
But DGHS Director (Disease Control) and spokesperson Dr Nazmul Islam warned the rush to go home for the holidays will give a rise in infection rates again.
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“We all need to look at the Indian variant transmission and be extremely cautious. Health authorities are paying attention to the situation. If the people do not strictly follow health guidelines, all that we have gained over the past few days will be lost.
“The treatment method for the Indian variants is almost the same as other variants, but new variants will continue to appear and the number of patients will never decrease if we cannot break the chain of infection,” the DGHS spokesperson said.
On April 5, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) suspended domestic flights alongside other restrictions imposed by the government to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
From April 21, the authorities allowed 11 flights on six domestic routes, except for Cox’s Bazar. Later, at the request of the airlines, seven more flights were added, bringing the total number to 18.
Biman General Manager (Public Relations) Tahera Khondoker said that the national carrier had requested the authorities to increase the number of flights.
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Sultan Mahmud, a passenger, said on Monday that the return tickets were unavailable because of high demand.
The authorities should look upon this, and the surge in prices too, he added.
According to NovoAir, all tickets of its Dhaka-Barisal, Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Saidpur, and Dhaka-Rajshahi routes have been sold out for several days from May 10.
US-Bangla Airlines General Manager (Public Relations) Md Kamrul Islam said that they were operating flights from Dhaka to Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Saidpur, and Barisal following health precautions.
“As the demand has increased, we have applied to the authorities to increase the number of flights,” he added.
