Airlines asked to charge fares in taka for international flights from Bangladesh

All local and foreign airlines operating in the country were asked to charge airfares at taka instead of foreign currency for international flights carrying both passengers and goods from Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism recently issued a circular in this regard which will come into effect from 1 July. 

Moreover, Bangladeshi airlines will sell tickets at taka from their selling point abroad, the circular added. 

The decision will help to create price stability and give consumers protection from unusual price fluctuation that they are facing currency amid rising dollar prices, said a senior executive of the ministry. 

It will also reduce unusual price pressure on migrant workers and hajj passengers amid rising dollar prices, he said.

The circular said that sales centres of Bangladeshi airlines operating abroad charge ticket prices in the currency of respective countries. Moreover, different countries use their own currency as headline currency for selling tickets.

In this situation, the decision was taken that all airlines will use taka as the headline currency for selling tickets for international flights from Bangladesh, according to the circular.

Airfare in different crowded international routes like the Middle East and Malaysia almost doubled in a span of two months in March putting pressure on migrant workers.

The fare for the Dhaka-Jeddah route has climbed to Tk75,000-Tk80,000 in March up from a maximum of Tk50,000 just two months ago. 

The airfare for the Dhaka-Muscat route is Tk80,000 now. However, a Muscat-Dhaka-Muscat ticket would cost Tk55,000 several months before.

Amid the price hikes, which started to climb gradually in January, passengers now opt for cheaper flights with layovers or connecting flights in spite of the longer travel.

Bangladesh sent 2.13 lakh workers in the first two months of this year, mostly to countries in the Middle East and Malaysia, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

The number of Malaysia-bound workers has gradually increased since last August, after a four-year hiatus, as the country accepted more than 29,000 workers in February this year.

After the workers started going to Malaysia, the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur fare suddenly jumped to Tk80,000 a few months ago, say travel agents.

Many airlines started to fly passengers to Kuala Lumpur with transit flights in Bangkok, Colombo or other cities. This reduced fares to between Tk30,000-Tk40,000.

The fare for flights with stopovers, too, has risen to around Tk50,000 since January, almost double the pre-Covid fare.