Ethiopian Airlines is going to start direct flights from Dhaka to Addis Ababa on November 2. If this flight of Ethiopian Airlines is launched, the country's interests will be damaged. As a result, the national flag carrier Biman will lose passengers on various European routes and the Toronto route in Canada.
In the meantime, the airline has announced to operate five flights a week. Not only that, but it has also offered a buy one get one free offer. This offer started from November 3 and will continue until November 18. It is said that marketing is being done to attract passengers with the motto 'Pay local, fly global'.
Those concerned say that as a result of this offer of free and low-priced tickets, Biman will lose passengers on the Rome, Manchester, and London routes in Europe. In addition, Biman will have to incur losses on the popular Toronto route in Canada.
Ethiopian is the top airline on the African continent and one of the top airlines in the world. They have a strong network on the Addis Ababa to London and Toronto routes. Moreover, Biman does not have more than two to four flights on these routes. On the other hand, Ethiopian operates flights on these routes seven days a week. Along with this, it is offering free tickets and low-cost tickets for the price of one ticket, which will easily attract passengers.
This airline from the African continent is also targeting countries where a large number of Bangladeshi workers live, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. It will take passengers from Dhaka to Addis Ababa and then take them to various Middle Eastern routes through transit flights. By doing this, Ethiopian Airlines will hit Biman's strong network in the Middle East. If passengers on these routes also go to Ethiopian Airlines, Biman will have nothing to do.
Ethiopian will attract these passengers with the mantra of selling tickets at low prices. There are 20 lakhs Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia alone. In addition, more than 1 million Bangladeshis live in other countries in the Middle East. Ethiopian Airlines has planned to operate flights from Dhaka targeting this large number of Bangladeshis.
An airline official told Barta24.com on condition of anonymity that no country's aviation authority in the world will take any decision that will harm the interests of its own country. However, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has taken such a decision where the airline will be directly affected, passengers will be lost. This will result in the country's money going to foreign airlines.
He said that since independence, the CAAB would always allow foreign airlines to operate flights if they got the green signal from the airline. Now the CAAB does not care about these things. India also once allowed the airline to carry passengers as it wanted. After a certain number of passengers, the airline had to pay a levy per passenger. Now you might say that the CAAB's job is to look after the interests of the passengers. Explaining that view, the official said that passengers may temporarily get tickets at a slightly lower price. But a foreign airline will take the money of thousands of Bangladeshi passengers. How will the country's interests be protected in this?
Former Managing Director and CEO of Biman Shafiul Azim said that if Biman gets permission to operate flights in a country, it has to burn a lot of wood. And if it gets permission, it has to be late at night, which is not a convenient time for passengers. It is not even possible to think of getting permission to operate flights during prime time.
However, some have questioned the capacity of domestic airlines like Biman or US-Bangla. What can the government do if domestic airlines do not increase their capacity?
In this context, civil aviation expert ATM Nazrul Islam said that the capacity of domestic airlines must be increased. And for this, the government must work. Otherwise, if the world's top airlines are allowed to operate flights as they wish, the country will lose money, and domestic airlines will not be able to survive in the competition.