Why airlines are losing passengers and revenue amid Middle East conflict
As cancellations continue, carriers say they are losing a large number of passengers each day, leading to mounting revenue losses.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East and resulting airspace closures have disrupted flights across the region, affecting airlines operating routes between Bangladesh and Gulf countries.
As cancellations continue, carriers say they are losing a large number of passengers each day, leading to mounting revenue losses.
Airlines operating Middle Eastern routes say the cancellations have already translated into steep revenue losses.
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Kamrul Islam, general manager (public relations) at US-Bangla Airlines, said the carrier is losing hundreds of return passengers each day due to reduced operations.
"We are losing about 600-700 passengers daily who would normally return from the Middle East," Kamrul told The Business Standard.
With the average one-way airfare at roughly Tk50,000, the airline is losing a substantial amount of revenue each day.
Since the crisis began, about 30 of the airline's Middle East-bound flights have been cancelled. The total financial loss is yet to be calculated as refunds and rescheduling continue.
Before the disruptions, US-Bangla operated multiple flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Flights to Sharjah and Abu Dhabi remain suspended, while services to Qatar have also been halted.
The airline has announced plans to resume Sharjah flights on 13 April and Abu Dhabi flights on 14 April.
Before the crisis, airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha served as major global crossroads.
Nearly 300,000 passengers pass through one of these hubs daily, about two-thirds of whom are transit travellers, according to a report published by The Guardian on 7 March.
When airspace closures disrupted flights through these hubs, the effects spread across the global aviation network, stranding travellers and forcing many to cancel trips.
The impact is particularly pronounced for Bangladesh, where a large share of international travellers rely on Gulf carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Saudia for onward connections.
