The government has taken a move to formulate a ground handling policy aiming to improve service and ensure regulatory compliance.
Civil aviation ministry sources said a consultant committee formed by the government in this regard has already submitted its report to the ministry.
Ground handling service providers will be brought under the licensing system which is now absent. The policy is yet to be published.
Talking to the FE, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said the report is now at the finance ministry. The draft of the policy has been finalised and vetting has also been complete. The policy will take effect after issuance of Air Vavigation Order (ANO), he added.
Over the past six months, Biman Bangladesh Airlines invested Tk 1.0 billion in procurement of 83 ground handling equipment to improve their services. Of the equipment, 38 have already been added to the present fleet while the rest will arrive here by next two months.
The equipment include--air starter unit, container palette loader, container palette transporter, water cart, flush cart, air conditioning fan, baggage tow-tractor, aircraft push back tow-tractor, ground power unit and forklift. At present, there are 120 equipments.
The Biman authority has appointed 567 additional staff including cargo helper, cargo assistant, traffic helper and ground support equipment operator for improving ground and cargo handling services at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).
At present, there are 325 staffers for ground handling. The authority has also set a target for the staffers to ensure transparency and accountability.
The first baggage drop on the baggage belt has to be within 20 minutes after landing of an aircraft while the last baggage drop should be within 80 minutes.
The Biman authority claimed to have achieved 95 per cent of this target. They cannot achieve 100 per cent target due to infrastructure limitations of the airport.
Since 1979 after HSIA began its operation, infrastructural facilities have never increased with the growth of passengers and cargoes within last 37 years.
The capacity of the airport has already exhausted. The situation may improve after starting operation of the 3rd terminal in 2021. The passengers' growth is 7.0 per cent. Biman handled 7.0 million passengers last year which is expected to reach 10 million by 2025.
General Manager (Public Relations) of Biman Shakil Meraj told the FE that Biman single-handedly handles 120-130 flights of 26 foreign airlines and its own carrying 20,000 to 25,000 passengers daily.
It also handles 400-500 tonnes of import cargo and 500-650 tonnes of export cargo daily. In addition, Biman handles four dedicated cargo flights every day.
He said there are eight arrival baggage belts and six departure belts. About 13 or 14 aircraft land during peak hours. Sometimes the passengers of the rest six flights have to wait for luggage for long. Moreover, the baggage belts are 35 years old which sometimes go out of order. Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is responsible for maintenance of these belts.
"Now passengers get their luggage half an hour after their arrival. CAAB too has to come forward to improve ground handling situation," he said.
Biman has to engage about 8-14 equipment to keep an aircraft functional after its arrival. It has to disembark passengers and off-load baggage and goods and again make the passengers and goods on-board within two hours, Mr Shakil said.
All these are done in compliance with the CAAB regulations, airlines manual and international safety and security rules, he added.
But a freight forwarding agent alleged that the cargo handling situation at HSIA is still in dire straits.
Showkot Ali, proprietor of Atlantic Traders, said mismanagement of cargo is rampant as freight forwarders have to depend on the loaders as they are the people who can find goods.
The cargo village is not organised to search for any container to find systematically. Loaders search for goods making them wait for four/five days. Biman has no accountability, he claimed.
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