Biman Bangladesh Airlines will take on ground handling duties at the newly built third terminal at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for two years, reports bdnews24.com.
Bosra Islam, managing director of Biman's Public Relations Wing, said: "We have received a letter containing these instructions, but an agreement has yet to be signed in this regard. The matter will be finalised at that point."
In July last year, Air Vice Marshal Md Mofidur Rahman, then chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, said that a Japanese company was interested in taking over the ground handling job for the third terminal and the government had decided to give them the job.
Ground handling usually involves issuing boarding passes to passengers, baggage handling, loading and unloading of cargo, and all types of aircraft services.
Biman had been angling to get the ground handling duties for the third terminal from the beginning. Now, the state-run company will get the responsibility of handling both passengers and cargo.
Since 1972, Biman has taken on ground handling at all airports in the country. Apart from its own flights, Biman also provides ground handling services for 30-42 domestic and foreign airlines. A major part of the company's revenue comes from this service.
However, at various times, there have been complaints against the airline, including theft from airport luggage, mishandle of luggage, and luggage delays.
On Sept 2 this year, there was a complaint that 6,800 Euros -- about Tk 910,000 -- was stolen from the bag of a passenger on a Chennai-bound flight. Five people were arrested and handed over to the police in connection with the incident.
Amid all this, there was consideration of ground handling responsibilities for the third terminal being given to a Japanese company. But after a long discussion, the decision was made in favour of Biman.
Biman spokeswoman Bosra blamed the airport's infrastructural limitations for the complaints raised against Biman's ground handling.
"The complaints that are being raised against Biman are not all the responsibility of Biman," she said.
"There are also infrastructure constraints. They will be looked at by the regulatory body. However, Biman will try its best to eliminate the problems that were or are there after receiving the responsibility of the third terminal. We are increasing our capacity further."
