The Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) has welcomed the government’s initiative to reduce airline ticket fares by up to 75 percent for various destinations, including flights to Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday (March 23, 2025), a delegation of ATAB met with Lutfe Siddiqui, special envoy of the interim government’s chief advisor, Professor Muhammad Yunus, at the office of the chief advisor and expressed relief over the government’s initiative.
The five-member ATAB delegation was led by the organization’s president, Abdus Salam Aref.
During the meeting, ATAB General Secretary Afsia Jannat Saleh presented various proposals to the government on behalf of the organization to make obtaining air tickets easier and cheaper for passengers.
He said that the provision called General Sales Agent (GSA) made mandatory for airlines by changing the 2017 law has created an opportunity for the formation of syndicates in this sector. As a result, passengers are being forced to buy tickets at higher prices, and their suffering is also increasing.
The ATAB president said that the government’s recent decision to cancel the system of booking tickets without passport details has put an end to long-standing irregularities and passenger harassment, and now the government must ensure that no organization can violate this law.
At the same time, Lutfe Siddiqui, the special envoy of the chief advisor, said, “The new decision was taken after listening to all the problems in a one-day meeting led by Legal Advisor Professor Asif Nazrul and finding a solution to them. Now we are ensuring strict monitoring so that no one can ignore this decision.”
Stating that he would be in favor of changing the 2017 law, he advised Atab to meet with Dr. Asif Nazrul, Advisor to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, to resolve the complications related to the law and rules.
Incidentally, the Ministry of Aviation and Tourism issued a circular on February 11 with 10-point instructions to reduce the high price of tickets for air travel and bring discipline in this sector.
In this, if the ticket is not allocated within 72 hours of booking, the booking is asked to be automatically canceled. In addition, if many tickets of an airline are blocked together in the name of group booking, it is asked to provide information to confirm the sale of the passenger’s name, passport number, and other information within seven days. Otherwise, the airlines will have to automatically cancel those tickets within the next 72 hours.
As a result of the instruction to book tickets with the passenger’s name, passport details, and a photocopy of the passport, the airlines ‘open’ the tickets that were ‘blocked’ without names. As a result, the computer reservation system Seats become more readily available. Now travel agencies and passengers can see online whether seats are available on flights and how much they cost. Passengers and agencies can book tickets according to their needs after checking everything.
As a result of this change, the artificial shortage of tickets in the market has been reduced and due to the availability of flight seats, a competition has been created between airlines and the price of tickets has come down.
