Biman operates international flights with 23pc seats vacant

A total of 341,482 seats were vacant in the flights that the Biman Bangladesh Airlines operated to various international destinations throughout the last six months. That is 23 per cent of the total seats in the flights.

The national flag carrier disclosed the state of its ticket sale in a report submitted to the parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation and tourism ministry. Experts described the situation as concerning. 

The parliamentary committee asked the civil aviation and tourism ministry about the reasons behind the low sale of international tickets of the national flag carrier and also sought data of ticket sales for the last six months. The Biman authorities responded to the query and submitted its report to the committee in a meeting at the parliament on Tuesday. 

According to the report, a total of 1477,456 seats were available in all international flights operated by Biman between June and November. But the Biman aircrafts carried passengers in 1135,974 seats and the remaining 341,482 seats remained unoccupied, which is 23 per cent of the total seats.  

However, the vacancy scenario varies from destination to destination. There were 2,675 seats in the flights operated from Dhaka to China’s Guangzhou in the six months. Of them, 1,638 seats were unoccupied, which means 61 per cent seats of the flights were vacant.  

In a separate case, there were 17,665 seats in the flights operated from Muscat, Oman to Dhaka during the period. Of them, 9,285 seats or 53 per cent were vacant. In the same period, 45 per cent seats were empty in the Abu Dhabi-Dhaka flights.

The flights operated from Istanbul to Dhaka during the period were completely empty. There were a total of 11324 seats in the flights. The Biman authorities, however, said they have no flight to Istanbul, but their aircraft land there to collect fuel. 

An opposite scenario was found in the Dhaka-Muscat, Dhaka-Riyadh, and Chattogram-Jeddah flights as around 80 to 90 per cent seats of the flights were filled with passengers. 

There is a longstanding complaint that people do not get Biman tickets, yet seats lie vacant. It was discussed in the parliamentary sessions repeatedly. The state minister for civil aviation, Mahbub Ali, faced fierce criticism after he had placed the Bangladesh Travel Agency (Registration and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill before the parliament. Jatiya Party parliamentarian Mujibul Haque Chunni then told the parliament that people do not get Biman tickets, yet seats lie unoccupied. 

Later, the parliamentary standing committee sought information from the national flag carrier. The Biman authorities, however, did not mention any specific reason behind the vacant seats. 

Ashek Ullah Rafiq, member of the parliamentary committee, told Prothom Alo that they received the Biman report and will discuss it in the next meeting.  

According to the report, Biman has been providing ticketing service from its own sale-points at domestic and foreign stations. It never suspended selling tickets.  

Also, it is providing the ticketing service through the global distribution system (GDS). It suspended ticket selling through the website from 9 August 2021 to 26 February 2022 due to modification in its passenger service system (PSS). The online ticketing service resumed on 27 February. 

The state-run airlines used to sell a nominal number of tickets (4.5 per cent) through its website.  

Shafiul Azim, managing director (MD) of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told Prothom Alo that Biman sold out tickets against 77 per cent of total seats when they had a target to sell 74 per cent seats. The authorities, in many cases, have to keep some seats vacant for load balancing and other technical issues. 

Also, there is a question about the basis on which the airlines authority decided the cabin factor at 74 per cent. A former Biman official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the fleet now has more and newer generation aircraft than any time in the past. So the target should be higher.

Kazi Wahidul Alam, a former member of the board of directors of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told Prothom Alo that other airlines operating flights from Dhaka consider 10 to 15 per cent vacant seats as 'standard' (acceptable) in the current context. As the Biman operates flights to high demand destinations, 23 per cent vacancy is a matter of concern. 

He said the responsible officials of other airlines usually have to face questions when a higher number of seats remain vacant for a destination. But the Biman doesn't seem to have this practice of accountability. 

The responsible officials need to be held accountable for the vacant seats, he added.