Malaysia entry deadline: Biman arranges special flight for migrant workers

Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate a special flight on Dhaka - Kuala Lumpur route today at 7:15pm paving the way for some Bangladeshi migrant workers to reach Malaysia within today's deadline.

The special flight has been arranged in line with a letter from the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare, the airlines said in a release.

A total of 271 passengers will be carried on this flight.

Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) representatives can purchase flight tickets in cash from the Biman sales office in Motijheel. The tickets can be purchased following a list provided by BAIRA.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has fixed the ticket price at Tk 73,616 per person.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is seeing four to nine times more migrant worker arrivals because of the deadline, reports ANN.

Videos circulating on social media show throngs of migrant workers in the gate area of the airport's two terminals, some of them sitting and lying on the floor.

Malaysia's Immigration Department said in a statement on Thursday that since May 22, 2,500 migrant workers have arrived each day, with this figure increasing to between 4,000 and 4,500 on Monday.

Usually, 500 to 1,000 migrant workers arrive at the airport daily, the department said.

The influx of the migrant workers comes amid an earlier government decision to bring forward a deadline for firms to bring them in - from end-September later this year to May 31 - effectively shortening the period for them to enter the country.