New Cox’s Bazar Airport Runway will be Inaugurated in December

By December of this year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the extended runway of the Airport at Cox’s Bazar, the country’s primary tourist city.

Cox’s Bazar Airport will be the fourth international airport in the country. The airport’s runway, which touches the sea water and will facilitate domestic and international flights, will be the longest runway in the country. This is expected to revolutionise the tourism economy of Cox’s Bazar.

The project stakeholders said that the runway expansion work of Cox’s Bazar Airport, for which 18.5 million US dollars has been spent, is almost near the end. 78% of the runway project has been completed. The aim of this project is to raise Cox’s Bazar Airport to international standards.

For the first time in the country, a 1,700 feet runway is being constructed on the sea chest towards the Maheshkhali channel. In all, the runway length of Cox’s Bazar Airport will be 10,700 feet. The objective of this project is to raise Cox’s Bazar Airport to international standards.

The project stakeholders also said that in 2021, Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) signed an agreement with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Limited (CCECC) regarding this project. CCECC, along with another Chinese engineering company, Changjiang Yichang Waterway Engineering Bureau (CYWEB), started the project implementation in August of the same year.

It is known from sources that the government has taken the initiative to expand Cox’s Bazar Airport to meet the needs and challenges of the next 50 years. Once the runway expansion is completed, aircraft like Airbus 380 will be able to fly here 24 hours a day and the airport will become an international aviation hub.

The development of the airport is being taken forward step by step based on a master plan. Apart from this the implementation of this project will enable operating long-range international flights with full load directly from Cox’s Bazar, increase the passenger and cargo transportation capacity of the airport, and establish a fast air communication system during natural disasters in coastal areas.

The site manager of CCECC’s Cox’s Bazar Airport runway extension project said 78 % of the project has already been completed. Although the duration of the project is 33 months, they will be able to complete the work before the scheduled time.

He further said that after taking up the project the work was interrupted due to the corona epidemic. Despite this, every effort is being made to complete the work before the scheduled time.

Currently, around 20 to 22 flights of Bangladesh Airlines, US-Bangla, NovoAir, and Air Astra are being operated at Cox’s Bazar Airport.

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