News Desk : dhakamirror.com
The Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh chairman Air Vice-Marshal M Mafidur Rahman on Saturday said that Japanese companies would be hired to manage the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport under the public-private partnership model.
‘The government has decided to give the third terminal for management to Japan…it will be managed under the public-private partnership,’ the chairman told a dialogue hosted by the Aviation and Tourism Journalist Forum of Bangladesh at the HSIA.
The third terminal is now under construction amid the increasing number of passengers and flights, and the CAAB was planning its soft launching by this October while it would be fully operational by the middle of next year.
Mafidur said that the procurement of announced new aircraft for national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines would be finalised depending on offers the Biman was receiving from the US manufacturer Boeing or the British-European Airbus.
‘We have good relations with Boeing over since, and Airbus came now into discussion. We will approach either of them who gives us better offer,’ according to the director of Biman management board.
He said that the government dropped the plan of constructing a new airport named after the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman due to economic situation.
The CAAB chief added that the government gave priority over regional aviation connectivity and so it mulled over expansion of Saidpur and Sylhet airports.
‘We have selected land for acquisition for the Saidpur airport expansion. It required Tk 5,500 crore. We planned to develop it with the help of Indian line of credit,’ he said.
Mafidur stated that his team had been working genuinely to resume the Dhaka-New York direct flight since 2018.
Biman suspended its direct flight to New York in 2006 citing fleet shortage and financial loss.
‘Boeing is helping us to this end,’ the CAAB chief said, adding that they had to start from scratch after senior leadership got changed in the Federal Aviation Administration, an operating mode of the United States Department of Transportation.
The US authorities are very eager to cooperate in this sector as Dhaka wants to resume the flight by this year, he pointed out.
‘But, we have some weakness,’ admitted the official.
For resumption of the Dhaka-New York flight, the operators need to submit documents to the FAA which have already been submitted, he said, asking journalists not to report just based on speculation.
‘Please do report based on facts, and if there is any confusion, do check it,’ said the CAAB chief.
Aviation and Tourism Journalists Forum of Bangladesh president Tanzim Anwar presided over the programme attended by the CAAB member (operations and planning) Air Commodore Sadikur Rahman Chowdhury, member (administration) additional secretary Md Mahbub Alam Talukder, member (flight standard and regulations) Air Commodore Shah Kawsar Ahmed Choudhury and member (security) Group Captain Abu Saleh Mahmud Mannafi among others.
