Air Asia set to withdraw from Dhaka July 1

_A Monitor Report Dhaka : Air asia, the Kulala Lumpur-based largest budget carrier in Asia is set to withdraw its operation to and from Dha-ka from July 1. Tension amo-ng thousand of passengers went high following report about the suspension of the route without any instructions on refund of unused tickets, as there is no official sales agent in Bangladesh. The airline began flight operations to Dhaka more than two years ago in March 2009. It operates daily flights on the Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route, offering low fares compared with the full-service carriers, many of which felt the pinch of a drop in travellers amid global financial meltdown. The airline soon become popular among migrant workers and middle-income leisure tourists due to its low fare. But, following sacking of its first GSA, Air Asia tried to appoint another, but with no success this far. This situation forced the airline to sale tickets, only online. No off-the-counter ticket was available for quite a long time. Online tickets are cheaper than off-the-counter tickets. So, Asia Asia's yield on Kuala Lumpur-Dhaka route was comparatively low. An industry insider told The Bangladesh Monitor that low yield is one of the factors for withdrawal of operation. A large number of persons, who are holding Air Asia tickets--, bought online--for various destinations in South-East, Far-East and Pacific will have to plan their travel afresh. Their anxiety about refund was over following a news story in The Daily Star on June14. AirAsia will refund money to its clients who bought tickets for the flights after June 30 on its Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur route. The refunding process will start from this week, the report said quoting Nafees Mostafa, station manager of the carrier in Bangladesh. The airline will refund the money in three ways. Firstly, the clients who have booked tickets in advance for flights within February 2012 can travel within June 30 this year. "In this case, we'll change the flight schedule to an earlier date on a first-come-first-serve basis for the available seats," said Mostafa. Secondly, the carrier will refund the entire booking amount through credit cards or travel agents. For that, travellers have to fill in an online form posted on the carrier's website. Thirdly, AirAsia can issue a 'Credit-Shell' by which one can get service worth the booking amount from other airlines and travel anywhere they like. Credit-Shell will be valid for three months. In a message posted on its website on June 13, AirAsia said it will notify all affected passengers through phone call, SMS or email, and they will be given a dedicated hotline along with a unique password. "Now, we have been instructed from the AirAsia headquarters to inform our clients that we are all set to compensate our clients," said Mostafa.