8-hour flight suspension at Dhaka airport daily for 5 months

Flight operations at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) will remain shut from 12am to 8am every day from December 9 to May 31 due to foggy weather and ongoing construction work of the third terminal.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) sources say all domestic and international airlines have been informed about the decision.

Inbound and outbound flights can use Sylhet’s Osmani International Airport and Chattogram’s Shah Amanat International Airport in case of emergency, HSIA Executive Director Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan told The Business Post.

The Instrument Landing System (ILS) technology at Bangladesh’s international airports – HSIA, Osmani and Shah Amanat – has a 600-metre range. Dense fog often brings down visibility to 50m.

CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman said the Bangladesh Meteorological Department would install a radar at the airport to resolve the visibility issue. “We’ll work on lighting the runway. Both will be done within December this year,” he told The Business Post.

“This will allow flight operations even during poor visibility,” he added.

Meanwhile, the CAAB will also install a radar from Thales in France but it won’t start operation until 2024.