Biman operated with 23pc vacant seats in 6 months

Biman Bangladesh Airlines operated with 23 percent vacant seats on various international routes in the last six months.

A total of 3.41 lakh Biman seats remained empty during the time, accounting for 23 percent of total seats.

According to aviation experts, the amount of empty seats is a reason for concern.

Previously, the parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation and tourism ministry sought reasons for Biman's lack of ticket sales on international routes during this period, as well as information on ticket sales.

Based on this, the airline submitted the report at the parliamentary committee meeting at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Tuesday.

The report was produced using vacancy data from the past six months for 68 destinations.

According to the report, 14,77,456 tickets were available for various overseas destinations in the six months, from June to November. Among them, 11,35,974 were booked; 3,41,482 seats were empty, accounting for 23 percent of vacancy.

The picture of large number of empty seats on all routes, however, is not accurate. On several routes, there were just a few seats available. On other routes, more than half the seats were vacant.

In the last six months, Biman flights from Dhaka to China's Guangzhou had 2,675 total seats. A total of 1,037 passengers got on the flights. The remaining 1,638 seats were empty, indicating 61 percent vacancy.

Biman did not mention any specific reason for this.

There were a total of 17,665 seats on Muscat-Dhaka route. Of these, 9,285 seats or 53 percent remained vacant. Forty-five percent of the total seats on the Abu Dhabi-Dhaka route were empty.

On the other hand, flights from Dhaka to Muscat, Chattogram to Muscat, Dhaka to Riyadh, Chattogram to Jeddah were quite full. In these flights, 80 to 90 percent seats were occupied.

Biman kept its ticket-sale services through its website suspended from August 9 last year to February 26 this year due to changes in its passenger service system.

According to Shafiul Azim, the newly-appointed Biman MD and CEO, in many circumstances, certain seats must be left unoccupied to balance the load for technical reasons.

State Minister for Civil Aviation M Mahbub Ali earlier said anyone found to be involved in ticket manipulation will face legal consequences.

According to aviation expert Kazi Wahidul Alam, airlines operating flights from Dhaka currently have an average of 10 to 15 percent unfilled seats as "standard" (acceptable).

The routes that Biman operates on are the most demanding. As a result, the plane seats are less likely to be empty. However, under this condition, 23 percent of seats remaining empty is a matter of concern, he said.