Baira Reduce airfare: The Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) has staged a demonstration against the hikes in airfare on Middle-Eastern flights.
Leaders of the association complained that the airlines including the national carrier were raising the cost of air travel unreasonably.
According to Baira, migrant workers from Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal were spending less on flights.
Air tickets from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka to the Middle-Eastern countries cost between Tk20,000 and Tk30,000 of Baira Reduce airfare.
But Bangladeshis have to pay around Tk75,000-95,000 for the same destination.
Meanwhile, a six-hour journey from Dhaka to Riyadh costs Tk80,000-90,000. But a 23-hour journey from Dhaka to New York costs only Tk65,000 of Baira Reduce airfare.
Biara members formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club on Thursday protesting the high ticket prices.
Most of the airlines declined to comment but cited rising fuel prices in the international market and a crisis of passengers behind the raise.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said they had given incentives to the airlines to keep the fare low.
Even the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) will not be enough to avert a steep fall at that point.
The professor further said on Thursday while speaking at the seventh session of a four-day virtual international conference titled. Fifty Years of Bangladesh: Retrospect and Prospect”.
Organized by the CPD and co-sponsored by the South Asia Program of Cornell University, the conference aims to explore the country’s developments in different sectors — politics, economy, society, and culture.