Mir Afroz Zamana

The new chief executive officer of Biman Bangladesh Airlines has assured to solve the problem of 'no tickets but empty seats'. However, it is alleged that Biman's 'internal and external circles' are involved, if action is not taken against them, the crisis will be solved or not, analysts doubt.

A top travel agent leader says the ticketing crisis is blamed on airline failure and that the problem will not be resolved unless it is 'exorcised in the air'.

According to Biman data, the state-owned company transported 3.2 million passengers with twenty-one aircraft in the last financial year. But last March, when a picture of a Dhaka-London route flight with empty seats went viral on social media, the issue of 'no tickets but empty seats' came to the fore again.

Then on March 15th, Biman announced in a circular that 'there are no tickets even if the seats are empty' - this is a fabricated charge against the authorities of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

It said, “All tickets of Biman Bangladesh Airlines are open for sale to all. Airline tickets can be purchased from Biman's own website, mobile app and Biman's own point of sale in addition to any authorized travel agent”.

In such a situation, during a courtesy meeting with journalists on Sunday, the new MD of Biman, Zahidul Islam Bhuya, said that "they want to solve the ticket problem completely" so that no more questions arise about it.

But what is the cause of 'no tickets but empty seats' problem?

Former managing director of Biman Dr. MA Momen told this correspondent that he himself has the experience of buying a ticket at a higher price from an agency without getting the ticket.

“I was in a different organization then. I didn't see it when I went to buy a ticket. Later, after buying from the agency, I boarded the flight and saw at least fifteen seats lying empty,” he said.

But when asked about the reason for not having tickets even though the seats were vacant, some former and current officials of Biman said that the whole matter is a manipulation of a class of officials of Biman and some agencies.

“Suppose there are 150 seats. You put 100 on all three agencies. They left the booking at name only price. Finally sold something at a high price. The rest returned the plane at the last moment. These unsold items cannot be sold later,” said a former official of Biman.

It is known that even if air tickets are sold digitally, this system also has scope for manipulation.

That is, the seat that is visible in the system (software) is not shown in the general display. Later, if they are released at a certain point in secret to specific agencies, only those agencies have the opportunity to detain them.

"In many cases, only a few preferred agencies are given this opportunity by the stakeholders. As a result, common people cannot see it. That's why you will see that some agencies only sell air tickets. That's why people get on the flight without getting tickets and see empty seats," said the former official.

Aviation analyst Kazi Wahidul Alam said, as technology has become a benefit, new ideas of manipulation are coming out. Some people are cleverly manipulating the tickets from inside and outside the plane.

He said that he also had the experience of not getting a ticket despite having it.

But to the question of who does this manipulation - Dr MA Momen says 'a ticket mafia' is doing it.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Muhammad Faruq Khan, however, in response to a question in the National Assembly on June 13, said that ticket passengers of Biman Bangladesh Airlines have access to Biman's own website, GDS, mobile app, call center and Biman's own sales center in addition to any authorized domestic and foreign travel. Can purchase from agent.

Atab President thinks that this crisis is not being solved because 'ghosts in the air', i.e. manipulations are done from within the aircraft.