CAAB: Bangladesh has the Potential to be an Aviation Hub

On December 2, Friday, Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), said, due to Bangladesh’s geographic location it has the potential to become an aviation hub.

During the “Aviation and Tourism opportunity: Connecting Bangladesh with the world” seminar at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka, he said, “Capacity building of the airlines, infrastructural development and skilled manpower is crucial to make it happen”.

Mafidur Rahman, while presenting the keynote at the seminar, emphasized the importance of the geographic location of Bangladesh as it takes at most 2 hours to reach other South Asian countries, 4 hours to reach any Asian country, and about 6 hours to reach any European country.

“We have to increase the capacity of our airports. The government has taken several mega projects for the development of this sector. Construction of the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is underway in full swing. A massive ‘Export Cargo Complex’ is being constructed at Osmani International Airport in Sylhet and the runway extension work of Cox’s Bazar Airport is also in progress,” he said.

Noting the negative impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the aviation sector, CAAB Chairman added that while the number of flights is increasing, the biggest challenge is providing cheap fuel.

He further added, “Another big challenge is to keep pace with the latest technology as aviation is a technology-dependent sector. We need to create skilled manpower for expanding this sector”.

SM Nazmul Anam, Regional Officer of Flight Safety at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), stated at the seminar that for Bangladesh to be an aviation hub, country branding and developing infrastructure are necessary.

Abu Tahir Muhammad Zaber, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bangladesh Tourism Board, and SN Manzur Murshed, Atab President, also spoke at the seminar chaired by Md Mokammel Hossain, the Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary.