Bangladesh rejects UAE’s Fifth Freedom proposal for airlines

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has rejected UAE proposals, including increasing flight operations by the country’s airlines into Bangladesh, and getting the Fifth Freedom right on various routes.

This decision comes after a two-day meeting between the two countries at the CAAB office in Dhaka on Tuesday, read a press release. CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman presided over the bilateral meeting.

Fifth Freedom is the ability to carry passengers and cargo from one foreign country to another while en route to/from a home country. This is a permission that allows, for example, Emirates to carry passengers between New York and Milan on its way home to Dubai.

If an airline simply stops in an extra country to refuel, or if the airline does not have the right to pick up or drop off passengers in a country, then it would not be considered a fifth freedom flight.

At the meeting, the civil aviation authority said it will not be possible now to increase the number of flights as the construction of the third terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is underway.

The proposal of increasing air traffic movement will be reviewed in the future based on the increased capacity of the airports, the aviation authority said, adding that the fifth freedom right can be implemented then, the release added.

Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi led the UAE delegation at the meeting.