Amid heightened pressure from several quarters, Biman Bangladesh Airlines today announced reduced airfare to Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, which will be effective from January 16.

Airfare on different routes in the Middle East was reduced between Tk 7,000 and Tk 13,000.

Associations of recruiting agencies, however, said the reduced amount is nominal and airfare is still quite high compared to neighbouring countries.

They also said passengers, especially expatriate workers, will not be able to avail the prices as no Biman tickets are available until March.

According to Biman, the reduced fare will be applicable to new ticket purchases -- subject to availability -- on the Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Dubai and Abu Dhabi routes.

However, the lowest slab of airfare will remain same, the national flag carrier said

The airliner said that one-way maximum fare for each economy class ticket on the Dhaka-Jeddah route has been reduced from Tk 72,455 to Tk 64,820, inclusive of tax.

The maximum one-way economy class fare on the Dhaka-Riyadh / Dammam route has been reduced from Tk 70,758 to Tk 63,123.

Fakhrul Islam, president of Recruiting Agency Welfare Organisation of Bangladesh, told The Daily Star that airfare for Middle Eastern countries were between Tk 40,000 and Tk 45,000 in November last year.

Giving a comparison between Bangladesh and neighbouring countries, he said airfare for Colombo-Riyadh is Tk 38,000 while it is around Tk 32,000 for Mumbai-Riyadh.