Shah Alam Nur :
Passengers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) have been facing problems like mishandling of luggage coupled with harassment because of sufficient ground handling equipment and experienced manpower.
Although this airport is the primary air travel gateway into Bangladesh and the hub of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, there are regular complaints about packed items being stolen through luggage tampering including slashing and long delays in putting luggage on carousels for passengers to pick up.
According to HSIA sources, around 30 incoming passengers have to leave the airport everyday without their luggage.
On the other hand, two to five Bangladesh Biman passengers lose their luggage on a daily basis.
When luggage is lost, owners have to face bureaucratic run around to lodge complaints and recover the luggage, many passengers alleged.
A number of passengers alleged that the returning Bangladesh nationals have to wait for hours together to get out of the airport with their valuables as the quality of ground handling is not up to the mark. “We are taking an initiative for joint ground handling with foreign companies for improved service,” Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon told The New Nation on Saturday. He said now they are at the final stage and within a short time they are going to float Request for Proposal (RFP) from international ground handling groups.
He said the Biman Bangladesh Airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) are jointly working to take assistance from an international partner as the Biman doesn’t have sufficient ground handling equipment and experienced manpower.
Nasima Begum, who landed at the airport from Riyadh by a flight of Saudi Arabia Airlines on the morning of January 9, had to wait three hours to know from the ground handling crew that her luggage was missing.
Then she went to the local office of Saudi Arabia Airlines at the airport, but the airline staff, who attended to her, could not extend any help. She was not even given any instruction about what to do, she alleged.
Officials at the lost and found desk told her that they would contact her if they could trace the luggage. She had to leave the airport without her luggage.
Abul Mansur, who flew home recently through a foreign airline, said his luggage was missing.
He said, “I had waited for three hours only to learn from the ground handling crew that my luggage was missing”.
“I went to the local office of the airline at the airport, but their staff, who attended to me could not extend any help. Even they did not give any instruction about what to do,” he alleged.
Every year the HSIA handles approximately 35 lakh to 40 lakh passengers, while 22 international airlines, including the national flag carrier, use it daily.
Aviation experts said the lone international airport in Dhaka still uses primitive procedures and equipment for baggage handling which contribute to the delay in luggage being put on carousels for passengers.
They said the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines moves for joint ‘ground handling service’ at the country’s three international airports in partnership with foreign companies to improve the substandard quality of work.
Due to shortage of skilled manpower and equipment support, the Biman Bangladesh alone could not provide proper service to passengers. Lack of proper ground handling has been creating frustrations and sufferings to the air travelers at the country’s three international airports: Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong and Osmani International Airport in Sylhet
At present, around 25 countries’ 25 airline companies, including four local flag carriers, handle more than 100 flights carrying some 10,000 passengers every day from the three airports.
