Home ›› 26 Jan 2022 ›› Front
Air passengers continue to suffer at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) due to a truncated timeline set by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh amid the inefficient ground handling services.
On November 22, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) declared that the airport runway would remain closed from 12am to 8am for renovation of taxiways, leaving domestic and international operations daily for 16 hours only.
HSIA sources say after the truncated timeline passengers are suffering multiple ways including long lines at the airline’s check-in counter, immigration counter, boarding bridge and health-screening kiosks for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) bound passengers.
The truncated measures have shot up the fuel expenses of the aircraft that are forced to fly in the sky as they fail to get clearance for landing on the runway at right time.
Taxiways shortage is a major problem at the HSIA, which is connected with the runway.
Domestic and international flights get delayed during their landing as well as take-off.
Outgoing carriers face boarding bridge shortage problems, according to the airport authorities and airlines operators.
As per the Wednesday (January 19) schedule, a total of 22 flights of international passengers were supposed to land in the airport in between 2:55pm and 10pm, while the take-off time of 23 international flights was likely to range from 4.25pm to 11pm.
As scheduled each flight got on average 10 minutes for take-off and landing.
There are a total of eight boarding bridges for departure passengers. Of them, one boarding bridge is out of order.
Aviation insiders say departure operation delays each day. Arrival passengers are being dropped off at Bay-ground, which has a short amount of space.
Moreover, take-off and landing are consuming more time due to the long line of passengers at the health check desk, airlines counter, immigration counter and boarding bridges.
Now most flights have to glide in the sky of Gazipur, Tangail, and Cumilla areas for 10 to 20 minutes to get clearance from the airport’s traffic control tower for landing on the runway when passengers also feel bored.
HSIA sources said all air operators have rescheduled their flight operations after getting the government notice.
Now daily around 62 international flights and 78 domestic flights are operating through the prime airport.
On Wednesday, a lot of UAE-bound passengers were seen waiting a long time in front of the health desk and check-in counter at the international departure terminal building of HSIA at 3pm.
A Dubai-bound expatriate worker Humayun Kabir from Lalmonirhat told The Business Post in front of the check-in counter that his flight (EK587) will depart at 6:40pm.
“But I came to airport around 10am for RT-PCR test and its result. Obtaining negative report from the RT-PCR Lab, having it verified and then finally getting a boarding card occupy a long time,” he said.
Domestic passengers also suffer flight delays and various troubles because of scanner shortage at the domestic terminal. One gate is used for multiple departure flights.
The arrival conveyor belts also go out of order sometimes and they are slow in revolving speed.
Sometimes bags and items drop off the belts causing sufferings to the passengers who face trolley crisis either.
Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, executive director at HSIA, told The Business Post the flight schedule and handling services are gradually improving. Old trolleys are being repaired.
Airlines staff face major problems with departure operations for shortage of check-in counters.
CAAB declared that airlines would be able to do emergency landing at two other international airports at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram and Osmani International Airport in Sylhet from 12am to 6am.
In addition, the three international airports including Hazrat Shahjalal installed a radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in foggy or bad weather.
This category-2 ILS shows 600 meters of sight range from the pilot seat, but down 50 meters visibility in foggy weather.
Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman told The Business Post all the problems will be solved after opening the most-awaited third terminal.
“Already we have resolved some barriers,” he said.
