Saudia Airlines take passengers to Saudi Arabia on special flights
Collected Photo
After the subsequent Houthi attacks, operations at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, the most important airport in Saudi Arabia, have been suspended. Under such circumstances, Saudia Airlines is taking passengers stranded in Bangladesh to their destinations in Saudi Arabia through special arrangements.
To safely take Umrah Hajj pilgrims and Bangladeshi expatriates to their destinations, special flights have been launched from Dhaka to Dammam and Jeddah airports in Saudi Arabia. The airline is not charging any extra fee from passengers on the special flights. And for transit passengers who used to travel to other destinations like Europe, America, and Africa via Riyadh, the airline is issuing tickets on other airlines at its own initiative.
Saudia Airlines took this initiative at a time when 62 passenger flights from Dhaka to Saudi Arabia have been canceled in various ways. And, because of this, thousands of passengers have crowded airports and airline offices in anxiety. They are worried about whether they will be able to reach their workplaces in Saudi Arabia before their visas expire.
As a result of this initiative, the suffering of Saudia Airlines passengers traveling from Dhaka to Saudi Arabia has mitigated. If other airlines took this strategy, the anxiety of Umrah Hajj pilgrims, expatriate Bangladeshis, and passengers waiting to go to Saudi Arabia with new jobs would come to an end, and their suffering would decrease. Saudia Airlines, the government airline of Saudi Arabia, operates the most flights from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia. This airline operates flights from Dhaka directly on the Riyadh, Jeddah, and Medina routes every week. With 27 flights a week, their passenger carrying capacity is about 11,000. Saudia Airlines does not operate flights on the Dhaka to Dammam route.
To reduce passenger anxiety, stranded passengers are being taken to Dammam on special flights. Outside the regular schedule, passengers are being taken to Jeddah on special flights. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, General Manager (Business Support) of Saudia Airlines, said that due to the closure of Riyadh Airport, two special flights have been operated to take stranded passengers to Saudi Arabia. More special flights will operate according to passenger demand. Our regular flights are still going directly to Jeddah and Medina. Riyadh Airport will remain closed until October 18. We are taking steps so that no passenger suffers until then.
He said that we have a large number of transit passengers. For them too, we are issuing tickets on other star airlines at our own expense. If seats remain empty on scheduled flights, arrangements are also being made for passengers to travel there. Those traveling on special flights do not have to pay any extra fee. Passenger satisfaction is our highest priority. Due to disrupted operations at various airports in Saudi Arabia, 62 flights operating from Bangladesh on direct and transit routes have been affected. As a result, 9,674 passengers have been affected.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority, among the direct flights, 9 flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, two of US-Bangla Airlines, five of Saudia Airlines, and seven of Riyadh Air have been affected. Besides this, 39 transit flights of IndiGo, Emirates, Qatar Airways, flydubai, Salam Air, and EgyptAir are also within its scope. Among them, Biman Bangladesh Airlines has suspended all flights on the Dhaka-Riyadh route until October 17. US-Bangla Airlines has also canceled all flights on the Dhaka-Riyadh-Dhaka route until October 21.
Shah Alam, former president of the Hajj Agencies Association Chittagong, said that Saudia Airlines' initiative is praiseworthy. If other airlines took this initiative, the suffering of passengers would decrease a lot. Especially budget or low-cost airlines should come forward humanely to take such an initiative.
