Air Asia set to take off from Dhaka in March

Noman Chowdhury, chief executive of Dahmashi Tours & Travels Ltd, Air Asia's general sales agent in Dhaka, speaks at a press conference in the capital yesterday.Photo: STAR

Air Asia, one of the biggest low cost carriers in Asia, is set to begin flights from Dhaka on March 12 with an intention to tap migrant workers and other travellers seeking cheap tickets to save money as recession bites.
The carrier said it would operate daily flights on the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route, offering low fares compared with the full-service carriers, many of which now feel the pinch of a drop in travellers amid global financial meltdown.
“We are hopeful to remain unaffected even if recession hits the earnings of many. Rather there is a possibility of shifting of travellers to low cost carriers from legacy carriers,” said Noman Chowdhury, chief executive of Dahmashi Tours & Travels Ltd, Air Asia's sales agent in Dhaka.
Chowdhury's conviction on having incremental passengers coincided a prediction of Sydney based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) that low-cost carriers will outpace the traditional ones 'in terms of traffic growth and earnings in 2009', as people migrate from the full-service amid global financial trauma.
Earlier, IATA (International Air Transport Association) said the airline industry might lose $2.5 billion in 2009 after facing a loss of $5.0 billion in 2008.
Airlines worldwide have cut back growth plans and axed loss-making routes to weather the dampening travel demand.
But Chowdhury said Air Asia would offer fares less than 40 percent of what the existing full-service carriers now charge the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route.
“It will be a very much of help to Bangladeshi migrant workers, local and foreign tourists as well as other travellers,” he said.
With the entry of faster expanding carrier AirAsia, which currently fly 108 international routes, total number of airlines on the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur will stand at five, up from present Biman Bangladesh Airlines, GMG Airlines and Best Air and Malaysia Airlines.
Pointing to the fact that the existing carriers, all full-service ones, depend mainly on Bangladeshi workers with jobs in Malaysia and charge between Tk 32,000-44,000 for a Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur-Dhaka ticket, the official of Air Asia's GSA said, “Our both way-fares will hover from minimum Tk 15,000 to maximum Tk 23,000.”
The 72-fleet carrier, however, said it would place a promotional fare starting from $29 on Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route. The special fares will be applicable for limited number of seats and booking for the promotional fare will remain open from February 9 to February 15, according to Chowdhury.