A Correspondent :
Air traffic at the Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport (SAIA) has marked a remarkable increase in recent time, especially over the last three months.
Airport Manager of the airport Wing Commander Md Noor-e-Alam said a total of 10 airlines including seven foreign and three local are operating international flights daily carrying more than 63,000 passengers every month.
Besides, he said, five airlines are operating regular domestic flights from the SAIA to other airports across the country.
In domestic routes, Noor-e-Alam informed, the airport is now handling nearly 1200 flights carrying 43,000 passengers every month while the figure in the past was only 900 monthly flights with 33,000 passengers.
Earlier, he said, the SAIA used to handle 500 international flights carrying 55,000 passengers every month, but the airport now handles 580 monthly flights carrying over 63,000 passengers during the same period.
The Airport Manager claimed air travel through the SAIA has remarkably been increased recently.
Particularly in domestic route, the passengers nowadays prefer air travel from Dhaka to Chittagong to cut their journey time.
He said Rotana Jet of Abu Dhabi started operation since July 2 last in Chittagong-Abu Dhabi route. They will operate three flights every week, he added.
Seven foreign airlines operating international flights from the SAIA are – Air Arabia of the UAE, Oman Air, another UAE-based airline Fly Dubai, Malinda Airways, Emirates Airlines, Rotana Jet and Etihad Airways while the local airliners operating in international routes are Biman, Regent and United Airways.
These 10 airlines are operating directly from the SAIA in Chittagong to the destinations of the Middle Eastern countries including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Bahrain, Kolkata, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. The Airport Manager said these airlines are operating 580 international flights from Chittagong Air Port on an average every month.
Fly Dubai now operates its daily flight service from SAIA to Dubai.
Besides, two international airlines – Emirates and Etihad – are carrying cargo from the SAIA on a regular basis.
Five airlines operating in the domestic routes are – Biman, Novo Air, US-Bangla, Regent and United Airways. These airlines are operating monthly 1200 domestic flights in total, Noor-e-Alam said.
The Airport Manager disclosed to the newsmen that the annual income of the SAIA had increased extraordinarily since 2011.
“We have earned a revenue income of Taka 610 million during the last 2014-15 fiscal,” he said, adding that the earning was Taka 410 million during the last 2013-14 fiscal.
Earlier, the annual income was only Taka 200 million, he added.
“In cargo sector”, he said, “we are earning Taka 10 million monthly while in the past it was only Taka 5.20 million annually.”
Following rise in earning from cargo sector, he said, “We are operating two international airlines daily only for carrying cargo now.”
Moreover, the number of passengers in domestic flights has been increased significantly due to traffic jam and other bottlenecks in highway and train routes. Growing number of local passengers also preferred air route during their visit to and from Dhaka and Chittagong.
The number of passengers in international route has also increased because of some privileges for directly flying from Chittagong to other international destinations.
And this is why, he said, growing number of the local people working in the middle eastern countries are using direct international flights from Chittagong.
SAIA was constructed with financial assistance from the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan at a cost of about Tk 5.41 billion in 1998.
The airport used only 8 per cent of its handling capacity till 2010 which was not enough for its sustainability as a viable international airport, the Airport Manager said, claiming with pride that the SAIA is now a profitable airport.
