Mohammed Badrul Ahsan :
The ban on direct Dhaka-London cargo flights by the British and Australian government is bleeding the national flag carrier Tk 57.6 million each month, sources said.
British government in March 2016 imposed ban on direct Dhaka-London cargo flights over security vulnerability at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport which is still in place despite significant changes made by the government after the ban.
But the national flag carrier officials are now hopeful about lifting the ban as a specialised validation called RA3 would be performed in March.
‘Significant progress in security component has been made in recent days. We are hopeful that the ban will be lifted following the RA3 check,’ Biman’s general manager (public relations) Shakil Meraj said at a workshop recently.
Bangladesh requires the validation of RA3, the ‘Third Country EU Aviation Security Validated Regulated Agents’, meant for supply-chain security initiative of the European Union.
It is required for Bangladesh carriers to fly cargo into or through the European Union.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines in its annual performance report, has stated that the overall growth in revenue of the national flag carrier was ‘adversely’ affected by the cargo embargo enforced by the British and Australian authorities.
The airlines’ total revenue, however, grew marginally by about 0.5 per cent to close at Tk 4,645 crore in 2015-16 fiscal year, as against Tk 4,623 crore a year earlier, it said.
Biman carries medicine, dry food, fresh vegetables, frozen fish and fruits to the Middle-East countries, while it transports living crabs and eel fish to mostly South East Asian countries.
During 2015-16, Biman transported 40,911 tonnes of cargo and earned Tk 315 crore while it fetched Tk 118.74 crore by handling cargoes.
Biman has signed agreements with Etihad Airways and Emirates Airlines for sharing space to carry Biman cargo to EU countries.
On March 8, 2016, the UK had banned direct flights of air cargo from Dhaka to London as Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport failed to meet some international security requirements.
In November, a high-powered British transport department team reviewed the enhanced security arrangements at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to resume direct cargo services between Dhaka and London.
