Bangladesh Targets Trillion-Dollar Economy By 2034 Through Stronger Aviation Sector

“We are working to transform the country's aviation sector into a regional aviation hub under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman,” he said at a policy conclave titled“World-class aviation for Bangladesh's economic progress”, organized by the Daily Bonik Barta at the United Convention Centre in Dhaka.

The minister said the government had inherited a“fragile and chaotic” aviation sector, with passengers facing various forms of harassment.

“Reducing passenger harassment is one of the priorities of our government,” he said, adding that many problems at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport had already been addressed.

He said passengers previously had to wait 1.5–2 hours to collect luggage, while damaged conveyor belts were also a common problem. The government has introduced body cameras for airport workers and instructed authorities to unload passenger and cargo flights simultaneously so that luggage reaches the conveyor belts within 15–20 minutes.

“After five days, I checked and found that passengers were taking no more than 40 minutes to collect their luggage from the belt,” he said.

Millat said the government was also reviving an aviation infrastructure project that had previously been cancelled, which he said could have resulted in a potential loss of USD 2.1 billion.

“After taking office, we held five meetings with Japan, involving the chairman of the Investment Board, the foreign affairs state minister and the foreign minister, and ultimately reinstated the project with the Japanese consortium,” he said.

Foreign Affairs State Minister Humaiun Kobir addressing the event

He said discussions on budget airlines would be held with the prime minister in November, while work to launch another international airport in Cox's Bazar was in its final stage.

The government is also considering PPP and joint-venture models and plans to involve the private sector in projects and activities that cannot be efficiently operated by the government, he added.

Foreign Affairs State Minister Humaiun Kobir said the government would provide policy support to the aviation sector and work to reduce bureaucratic complexities to improve the business environment.

He said the government aims to bring visible changes to the aviation sector within the next five years and stressed the need to improve airport infrastructure, strengthen the national flag carrier, establish international-standard ground handling and expand aircraft fleets.

Air Vice Marshal (retd) Mahmud Hussain, former chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, said Bangladesh faces shortages of pilots and maintenance engineers and needs to improve training capacity to meet growing demand.

Representatives from the aviation sector, including CAAB member Air Commodore Md Nur-e-Alam, US-Bangla Airlines Managing Director Mohammed Abdullah Al Mamun, Total Air Services Group Chairman KM Mujibul Haque and Bangladesh Association of Banks and Dhaka Bank Chairman Abdul Hai Sarker, also spoke at the event.

More than 400 policymakers, experts, diplomats, entrepreneurs and representatives of local and international organizations attended the conclave.

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