Bangladesh- Jashore airport passenger terminal expansion work starts

(MENAFN- Bangladesh Monitor) Dhaka : Work on the expansion and renovation of the passenger terminal at Jashore airport started in September this year and is expected to be completed by August next year.

The Tk 32.89 crore project is being implemented by Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB).

When completed, the terminal will be able to accommodate 600 passengers at a time, double the existing capacity. Carousels will be installed for baggage delivery.

Meanwhile, Motiar Rahman, CEO of Sharothi Enterprise and Chairman of Import Export Sub Committee of India- Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) welcoming the start of expansion work of the passenger terminal of Jessore Airport, has urged upon the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh to expand the existing runway of Jashore Airport as well, so that jet aircraft can also land here. The airport gateway to the southern part of the country for air, could become an important regional hub for connecting Kolkata, Kathmandu and other regional airports, he added.

It may be recalled that World War II brought modern aviation to what is now Bangladesh, when the first military airstrip was built at Tejgaon by the British Raj to facilitate access for warplanes in the battlefields of Burma (now Myanmar) and Kohima in India.

The construction of other airstrips in Feni, Chittagong, Comilla, Chakaria, Sylhet, Cox's Bazar, Jashore, Lalmonirhat and Rajshahi followed. These military airstrips were used by RAF's Third Tactical Air Force during World War II.

It may be mentioned that The Bangladesh Monitor had reported, in an earlier issue, on the absence of basic facilities for passengers at the airport.

The airport is the only aviation installation in the south west region of the country. For around six and a half decades, this airport is serving passengers of greater Khulna, Jessore, Faridpur and Kushtia districts as well as road traveller traffic to India.

The existing facilities at Jessore airport - both landside and airside areas - were build to serve the traffic of just one DC-3 or F-27 or F-28 or ATP flights a day. In the decades between 1950s and 1980s, the airport handled once-a-day flight of one of these small commercial aircraft.

Passenger load at that time was low. Thus the facilities, the airport had at that time, were enough for the number of passenger traffic.

But thing started changing with the advent of private airlines in the decade of 1990. The start of flight operation by a number of private airlines provided Jashore airport a great boost to capacity. As a result demand increased significantly.

At present about 8-9 flights a day, carrying around one thousand passengers both ways are operating to Jashore airport and serving passenger traffic from greater Jashore, Khulna, Faridpur and Kushtia districts. The airport is also connecting Mongla seaport and Kolkata through Benapole Land Port.

The report of this premier travel trade jopurnal had then reported that the airport has no important basic facilities like arrival hall and language delivery system. Baggage is delivered in open space, outside the terminal building. So adverse weather conditions increased plight of travellers to a great extent.

The existing terminal building is too small even to accommodate passengers of more than two flights of small domestic aircraft, at a time.

The runway of the airport is not long and strong enough to handle aircraft like Boeing 737.

The Bangladesh Monitor had then suggested that Jashore airport could be developed as air hub of the south west region of the country.

MENAFN1712201801630000ID1097844427