HSIA authorities must ensure smooth flight operations

Passengers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka have been going through immense sufferings after the airport authorities introduced an eight-hour closure of its lone runway—starting from midnight on Thursday—in order to facilitate the construction and expansion of taxiways for the airport's under-construction third terminal. Reportedly, the departure of several flights were delayed following the closure, since the airport authorities could not complete the immigration process of several hundred passengers in time, as per the new schedule.

While the airport authorities had previously assured that the closure would not cause any disruption of flights and in-passenger handling services, what happened in reality was just the opposite. Reportedly, at least 12 international flights had to be rescheduled due to the runway closure, and passengers had to stand in long queues at the check-in counters, immigration and other places. The mismanagement at the airport was evident everywhere—including inside and outside the terminals, passenger check-in counters of airlines, immigration, and boarding bridges.

While flight delays and passengers' sufferings are regular phenomena at Dhaka airport, the closure of its only runway for as long as eight hours every day has just turned the situation from bad to worse. Evidently, the authorities have not planned properly or taken any prior preparations to operate all the flights—some 85-90 flights depart and touch down at the airport every day—within the 16 hours of operation. As the airport authorities often grapple with maintaining the flight schedules at regular times, it is no surprise that they would struggle to maintain the new schedule, unless of course they take the necessary measures to do so. Sadly, that's where they have failed—they did not ensure the necessary number of check-in counters, boarding bridges, security check-in counters, baggage loading and unloading bays and other related facilities to maintain the new schedule.

Since the daily runway closure is supposed to continue till June next year, the authorities must address all these issues as soon as possible in order to avoid the flight delays and reduce passengers' sufferings. They must ensure that all the immigration counters are in operation so that passengers can complete their immigration on time. Setting up additional check-in counters and other necessary facilities to deal with the pressure of passengers, as different airlines have demanded, should also be considered. In addition, the manpower shortage at the airport also must be addressed. Last but not the least, the airport authorities may consider reducing the closure time of the runway in order to overcome the present crisis.