500 aspirants still waiting for air tickets

Over 500 aspirant hajis are uncertain about making it to Saudi Arabia as Biman's hajj flights end this evening with no seats for them in the planes, said Biman sources.

Around 2,800 aspirant hajis are yet to leave for Jeddah as of yesterday.

With its last six hajj flights scheduled for today, Biman will be able to carry 2,300 of them to Saudi Arabia, Saifuddin, a top official of the national flag carrier, told The Daily Star yesterday.

“Fate of around 500 aspirant hajis is uncertain thanks to several hajj agencies who didn't confirm tickets for their hajj pilgrims on time,” added Motahar Hossain, another top official of the national airliner.

Motahar, general manager of flight operation (central control), said they were desperately trying to convince the civil aviation of Saudi Arabia to give them permission to operate two more hajj flights on September 6 under special consideration.

“The government through our embassy in Saudi Arabia is trying hard to get the permission. If Biman finally gets the consent, there will be no problem in sending the rest of the hajis to Saudi Arabia,” added Motahar.

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“But in case of failure, fate of these aspirant hajis will become surely uncertain,” Motahar also said.

Talking to The Daily Star, several top officials of Biman blamed a section of hajj agencies for bringing uncertainty to the aspirant hajis as they delayed buying Biman tickets for their hajis.

“You [this correspondent] will be surprised to know that over 200 aspirant hajis of a top leader of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (Haab) are yet to confirm tickets for its hajis. We have got several cases in which hajis who got visas on August 7 or August 8 are flying now due to hajj agencies' delay in buying tickets for them,” a Biman official said.

Contacted, Ibrahim Bahar, president of Haab, denied the allegation, saying that they could not send all hajis at the same time.

This year, Saudi Arabia gave permission to 1, 01,758 Bangladeshis to perform hajj. Only 10,000 of them would perform hajj under the government management and the remaining 91,758 under the private arrangement.

Biman has so far carried 44,874 aspirant hajis to Saudi Arabia by its dedicated hajj flights which started on August 4, while Saudi Arabian Airlines has carried 45,117 hajis as of yesterday morning, a Biman official said.

Although Biman's hajj flight will end today, the Saudi Arabian Airlines will get another day to carry hajis from Dhaka to Saudi Arabia, sources said.

Since the national flag carrier launched this year's hajj flights on August 4, it was forced to cancel at least 15 hajj flights due to shortage of hajis. Those flights could have carried over 5,500 pilgrims to Jeddah, Biman officials said.

Due to shortage of hajis, Biman flights also flew to Jeddah with over 600 unoccupied seats. 

Saudi civil aviation authority primarily granted Biman 112 slots to carry over 50,500 hajis.

On August 23, Biman got permission from the Saudi Arabian authorities to operate 15 extra hajj flights, paving the way for removing the uncertainty of at least 5,400 people performing their hajj.