Economic Reporter :
Biman Bangladesh Airlines will resume its direct cargo carrying service to London from tomorrow after two years as it received ACC3 certificate on Monday from the UK, the last barrier to remove the ban on the transportation.
“Earlier, we got the RA-3 (Regulatory Agent for third country) certificate as cargo handling agent, yesterday we received the ACC3 certificate as cargo carrier,” Biman’s Spokesperson Shakil Miraj said at a press briefing at the Biman’s headquarters Balaka on Tuesday.
The national flag carrier will carry goods through its Dhaka-London flight BG001 at 10:45 am tomorrow, Meraj, general manager (public relation) of Biman, said.
On March 8 in 2016, the UK imposed a ban on the direct cargo transportation from Bangladesh alleging low security measures of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).
After that, Bangladesh government took a numbers of measures including setting up of Exclusive Detector System (UDS), Explosive Detection Dog (EDD) and Explosive Trace Detector (EDT) machines at the airport.
Besides, RA-3 warehouse was set up at the HSIA for Europe-bound cargo goods where entry of all was restricted except the Biman staffs On February 19 2018, the UK and EU withdrew ban on direct cargo flight from Bangladesh as Biman passed the RA-3 (Regulatory Agent for third country) audit.
However, though Biman got the RA-3 certificate as cargo handling agent, it had to face another audit named as Air cargo or mail carrier operating into the union from a 3rd country airport (ACC3) as cargo carrier from February 19-22 last.
As Biman Bangladesh airlines passed the ACC3 audit successfully, the UK’s Department for Transportation (DFT) informed the Biman yesterday through email about withdrawal of the ban.
Meraj said Biman Bangladesh Airlines lost nearly Taka 150 crore as revenue due to the cargo ban to the UK and Europe.
The national flag carrier earned revenue of Taka 351 crore for cargo carrying and handling during 2014-15 fiscal year, but it declined to Taka 315 crore and Taka 244 crore in 2015-16 and 2016-17 fiscal respectively.
On Behalf of Biman Bangladesh airlines, Shakil Meraj also expressed deep condolence at the tragic incident of deadly crash of Us-Bangla aircraft in Kathmandu on Monday.
He said Biman is the only aircraft of Bangladesh that received IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) for last consecutive six years.
“We always show zero tolerance on flight safety issue as he national flag carrier,” he added.
