Anwar Hossain from Bogura was scheduled to fly to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first time on a work visa on Tuesday. His IndiGo flight was due to depart from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 3:55pm. However, the flight was cancelled.
He waited at the airport until night before going to a relative’s house in Baipail. From Wednesday morning, he tried to contact the agency in Banani from which he had bought his ticket, but could not reach anyone. He was also unable to contact his employer.
Anwar spoke to Prothom Alo over the phone on Wednesday afternoon.
“I waited all day on Tuesday but couldn’t leave. I’ve been calling everyone since this morning, but no one is answering. This is my first time going abroad, and I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do. I don’t even know how I’ll get there now,” he said.
Asked about buying another ticket to join work, Anwar said, “I’ll have to pay again for a new ticket. Where will I get that much money?”
Additional costs for alternative flights
Like Anwar, Zakir Hossain was scheduled to travel to Riyadh on Tuesday. He had returned to Bangladesh on a three-month leave. His Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight was scheduled for 1:10pm on Tuesday.
After the flight was cancelled, he paid an additional Tk 16,000 for a ticket on a flight to Medina scheduled for 10pm on Wednesday.
Speaking to Prothom Alo on Wednesday afternoon at the canopy area of Terminal 2 at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the passenger from Katiadi in Kishoreganj said, “Biman told me the route had changed, so I would have to pay another Tk 16,000. I paid and got the ticket. I have to get there somehow.”
Zakir works as a labourer at a factory in Riyadh. His leave ended on Tuesday. He said that when he informed his kafeel (employer) about the flight cancellation in Dhaka, the employer told him to travel by an alternative route.
Atiar Rahman and Sujauddin were scheduled to leave for Umrah on an Air Arabia flight at 4:45pm on Wednesday. They could not travel because the flight was cancelled. Their group consists of 40 Umrah pilgrims.
“We arrived in the morning to catch the flight and learned here that it had been cancelled. Now we’ll have to stay at a hotel. That means additional expenses,” Atiar Rahman told Prothom Alo.
During a visit to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport between 1pm and 5:30pm on Wednesday, this correspondent spoke to more than 15 passengers. Most passengers travelling to Saudi Arabia whose flights had been cancelled came to the airport to check their flight status. Others waited for alternative flights to reach their destinations. Most said they had not known about the cancellations.
The number of waiting passengers was relatively lower on Wednesday than over the previous four days. However, airline staff were not seen following the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh’s (CAAB) instructions to assist stranded passengers. Travellers were left waiting at the airport on their own. CAAB had sent a letter to airlines on Monday instructing them to keep track of the situation of passengers awaiting flights.
Passengers to Riyadh and Jeddah seeking alternative flights
As of Wednesday afternoon, passengers from some cancelled flights were trying to travel to Saudi Arabia on alternative flights. Before Sunday, some passengers had travelled via Jeddah and Dammam. However, neither CAAB nor Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport authorities could confirm the number of passengers who had done so.
Following an attack on Riyadh airport on Saturday night, flight from Dhaka to Riyadh were cancelled. From Wednesday, some flights to Jeddah and Dammam were also cancelled, according to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport authorities. A flight to Abu Dhabi was also cancelled on Tuesday.
The airport’s flight information display showed that the 5:30pm Flynas flight to Jeddah had been cancelled.
Passengers wait at Balaka for alternative tickets
Biman Bangladesh Airlines has cancelled its flights to Riyadh and Dammam until 17 October. The state-owned carrier is currently operating flights to Jeddah and Medina. Passengers whose flights have been cancelled are seeking alternative routes to Saudi Arabia.
At Biman’s Balaka office near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, passengers were seen waiting to change their tickets.
Kabir Abdul Hai, a Riyadh-bound passenger from Kaliakair in Gazipur who had come to Balaka to change his ticket, told Prothom Alo, “My Biman flight to Riyadh was scheduled for midnight on Wednesday, but it was cancelled. So now I’m trying to travel via Jeddah. It would be good if I could get a flight to Jeddah.”
He has to return to work after his leave ends on Thursday.
100 flights disrupted, 15,393 passengers affected
Operational restrictions at Saudi Arabian airports have disrupted 100 flights operating between Bangladesh and other destinations through direct and transit routes. Some flights were cancelled while others were suspended. A total of 15,393 passengers have been affected. Of the disrupted flights, 41 were direct flights and 59 were transit flights.
According to a CAAB press release issued on Wednesday evening, the affected direct flights included 17 operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, 10 by US-Bangla Airlines, seven by Saudia and seven by Riyadh Air.
Among transit flights, 22 IndiGo flights, 14 Emirates flights, seven SalamAir flights, seven Qatar Airways flights, six flydubai flights, two Air India flights and one EgyptAir flight were affected.
Operations at Saudi Arabian airports have been disrupted following an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The disruption has also affected flights from Dhaka to Saudi Arabia. Earlier, CAAB had reported cancellations and suspensions as well as disruptions to transit flights.
Amid the situation, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier, has announced the suspension of all flights from Dhaka to Riyadh and Dammam until 17 October. Meanwhile, private carrier US-Bangla Airlines has cancelled all flights on the Dhaka–Riyadh–Dhaka route until 21 October.