Amid pressure from the expatriates' welfare ministry, Biman Bangladesh Airlines yesterday agreed to look into reducing exorbitant airfares to various Middle Eastern destinations, currently a large financial burden for the country's expatriate workers.

Top officials of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment pressured Biman at an inter-ministerial meeting at the Cabinet Division with Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam in the chair, meeting sources said.

In the meeting, it was also decided Bangladesh will carry out strong diplomatic efforts so that employers in Saudi Arabia bear the cost of booking hotels on behalf of Bangladeshi workers who have to quarantine on arrival.

Apart from the exorbitant airfare for workers travelling to Middle Eastern countries, other issues discussed included priority in ensuring vaccination of outbound workers, sufferings and financial burden of Saudi-bound migrant workers due to mandatory hotel bookings for quarantine, and post-arrival quarantine and pre-departure quarantine for South Korea bound passengers, added a source.

The respective secretaries of the Prime Ministers' Office, foreign ministry, expatriates' welfare ministry, health ministry, home ministry, civil aviation ministry, the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, and Biman Managing Director and CEO Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, among others were present at the meeting. 

The inter-ministerial meeting was held following the sufferings of Saudi-bound migrant workers following the issuance of a new travel advisory by the Saudi government that said Saudi-bound migrant workers who hadn't yet receive the Covid-19 vaccine would have to stay in seven days' institutional quarantine at designated hotels in the Gulf country.

The travel advisory came into effect from May 20.

A Saudi-bound worker needs to spend Tk 60,000 to Tk 70,000 to book a hotel room to quarantine in, a large financial burden for them. Failing to book hotel rooms, more than a thousand Saudi-bound migrant workers missed their flights in the pastseveral days, workers alleged.

According to a meeting source, the Biman MD submitted a letter at the meeting mentioning various reasons for increasing airfares on various international routes.

The reasons included Biman's inability to carry passengers at full capacity due to restrictions for maintaining social distancing and the small number of passengers on most Dhaka-bound flights.

Despite these arguments, top officials of the expatriates' ministry pressured Biman to reduce exorbitant airfares to various Middle Eastern countries. At one stage, the Biman MD said they will look into the matter, a secretary who was present at the meeting told The Daily Star.

Regarding Covid-19 vaccination for outbound migrant workers, Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, secretary of the expatriates' welfare ministry, said the inter-ministerial meeting had instructed the health ministry to give vaccines to outbound migrant workers on a priority basis after vaccines become available in the country.

About giving cash assistance of up to Tk 25,000 to each Saudi-bound migrant worker from the Wage Earners' Welfare Fund, Saleheen added they will either provide the money to the respective airlines or to the bank accounts of the workers.

"After finalising the process, a circular in this regard will be issued soon," he also said.