'Open Sky Policy' decision to be placed before advisory council

---

FE Report
The government decision to adopt 'Open Sky Policy' for a limited period enabling airlines to operate additional flights for transporting Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia and Middle Eastern countries will be placed before the next advisory council meeting for approval, sources said.
The meeting of the advisory council which was scheduled to be held today (Saturday) was, however, postponed on account of Ramadan.
Under the 'Open Sky Policy' local and foreign airlines operating flights from Dhaka will be able to conduct unlimited flights without having to obtain prior permission.
"Our proposition has been sent to the cabinet division to be placed before the advisory council for its approval," Sheikh Altaf Ali, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, told the FE Saturday.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism on the request of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, made the proposal after holding a meeting with all stakeholders on September 10 to resolve the crisis in connection to manpower export which helps the country fetch about $ 6.0 billion yearly as remittance.
The impasse, due to non-availability of adequate seats on the outbound airlines of all Middle Eastern and Malaysia bound countries, has posed a serious threat to thousands of Bangladeshi workers who are running the risk of their visas expiring shortly.

Sources said the entry visas of several hundred Bangladeshi workers are expiring every day for their failure to report to their respective work places within the stipulated time in Malaysia and Middle Eastern countries because of shortage of air tickets.
Currently, they said all local and foreign air operators all together can carry 2100 passenger per day to those destinations while the number of passengers in the waiting list are several times higher.
The situation will aggravate further if the government decision is delayed as around 150,000 workers are getting prepared to fly for Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates within next two months, sources said.
Apart from this, they said the government will be required to take steps to help about 0.1 million illegal Bangladeshi workers to return home before the deadline imposed by the UAE government expires this November 3.
However, officials of GMG, Saudi Arabian, Emirates and Malaysian Airlines and leaders of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), during the meeting, demanded that the government should either adopt an 'open sky policy' or allow them to operate additional flights.
Requesting anonymity, a source close to a foreign airlines said, "Until the government adopts such a policy, we cannot move to operate additional flights arranging aircraft."