No response yet to aviation sector's demand for stimulus

Airlines Association of Bangladesh (AAB), which recently sought a Tk 1,000 crore stimulus package to overcome the fallout of the global recession, has failed to draw attention of the government.
The AAB, grouping GMG Airlines, United Airways, Best Air and Aviana Airways Ltd, recently urged the government for sanctioning Tk 1,000 crore interest-free loans and waiver of tax, landing and navigation charges to tackle the negative impacts of the economic downswing on the aviation sector.
“There has been no response so far, we haven't even got any appointment to meet the finance minister,” M Haider Uzzaman, convener of the Airlines Association of Bangladesh (AAB), told the news agency yesterday.
“But”, he said, “We're hopeful that we'll be able to meet him (finance minister) some time this week, which will allow us to narrate the overall situation of the aviation sector because of the ongoing global financial crisis.”
Haider, who is chairman of Best Air, said it would be very tough to save the aviation sector of the country without having any policy or financial assistance from the government.
“We're already in a deep trouble with huge debts as traffic flow has gone down. If we want to survive in the recession, we need government support,” he said.
Haider said he, on behalf of the association, put forward a written appeal to the Ministry of Finance, seeking support from the government.
He said the private airliners of the country have already suffered a loss of hundred crore taka because of unusual surge in fuel prices last year.
Responding to a question, Haider said it's true that the fuel oil price has come down a lot following the recession, but the number of passengers also declined sharply.
He said the number of outgoing migrant workers from Bangladesh decreased as the countries of their destinations have been hit hard by the recession.
The situation worsened when the government of Malaysia, one of the major employers of Bangladesh migrant workers, cancelled visa of 55,000 workers. “The situation is changing rapidly and I'm sorry to say all are going against us,” he said.
Local airlines usually rely on migrant workers to the Middle East and Southeast Asian economies like Singapore and Malaysia that employ majority of Bangladesh's five million-plus migrant workers.
But as the recession deepens and oil prices slide, the outflow of migrant workers records a gradual decline, while many are on the return.