Cox’s Bazar International Airport set for October launch

Cox’s Bazar International Airport is expected to be inaugurated in the third week of October as major infrastructure works near completion, but uncertainty remains over which airlines will operate international flights from the tourist city.

Air Commodore Md Noor-e-Alam, member (air traffic management) of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), said, “We are approaching and taking preparations targeting the third week of October for the inauguration.”

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Asked whether any airlines were ready to operate from the airport, he told The Daily Star yesterday, “We have sent a letter, and Biman has already assured that they are taking preparations accordingly.”

Golam Murtaza Hossain, director of Cox’s Bazar Airport, said a team, including the CAAB chairman, visited the airport yesterday to inspect progress.

CAAB documents show that the international passenger terminal is 98.97 percent complete, while the runway expansion project is 91.65 percent complete.

“The work is almost finished, except for some final touches,” he told The Daily Star.

CAAB documents show that the international passenger terminal is 98.97 percent complete, while the runway expansion project is 91.65 percent complete. Both projects are scheduled to run until December 2026.

The runway has been extended from 9,000 feet to 10,700 feet, with 43 hectares reclaimed from the sea. CAAB says it can handle wide-body aircraft, including Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 747-400.

Construction of the 17,956-square-metre international passenger terminal has also been completed. It includes a departure lounge for 450 international passengers, a boarding bridge, lifts, escalators, conveyor belts, check-in desks and immigration facilities.

A 36,300-square-metre apron capable of accommodating two wide-body aircraft and three Dash-8 aircraft, along with two taxiways, has been completed and brought into operation. Parking facilities for 35 VIP cars and 90 general cars are still under construction.

The airport currently handles an average of 28-30 passenger aircraft take-offs and landings a day, according to CAAB. Earlier, on August 24, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Rashiduzzaman Millat said the airport would be formally inaugurated in October by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

“Alongside Biman Bangladesh Airlines, different international airlines will also operate flights from Cox’s Bazar International Airport,” he said during a meeting with members of the Aviation and Tourism Journalists’ Forum of Bangladesh at the Bangladesh Secretariat.

Millat also said several foreign airlines had expressed interest in operating from Cox’s Bazar and that initiatives had been taken to launch direct international services. Aviation experts and industry stakeholders, however, have raised questions about demand for such services and whether airlines were adequately involved in planning the facility.

Aviation expert Kazi Wahidul Alam told The Daily Star yesterday that the requirements for an international airport should have been determined in consultation with airlines.

“Before developing a facility, the stakeholders who will use it should be consulted about how they want to use it. The requirements should come from the users. Civil aviation itself is not the user,” he said.

To his knowledge, neither CAAB nor any other government agency had sought requirements from domestic or foreign airlines operating in Bangladesh before developing the airport for international operations, he added.

Alam said Biman had been asked during the interim government’s tenure to start an international flight from Cox’s Bazar but was reluctant because it did not consider the operation commercially viable.

A Cox’s Bazar-Kolkata service was discussed, followed by a proposal for a Cox’s Bazar-Dhaka-Kolkata service, he said.

As far as he knew, US-Bangla Airlines had indicated that it might operate, but no foreign airline had expressed interest in launching flights from Cox’s Bazar.

“Although it may be announced or formally inaugurated as an international airport, I do not think it will be an effective decision unless there are viable flight operations,” Alam said.

Taslim Amin Shovon, chief executive officer of Innoglobe Travel and Tours, said the airport alone would not be enough to draw international traffic without airline interest and wider tourism infrastructure.

“So far, no airline is showing interest in operating from the airport. If no airline comes, it is difficult to expect much from the international airport,” he told The Daily Star.

“You cannot just build an airport. Along with the airport, the other infrastructure also has to be developed,” he said, stressing the need for sustained promotion and marketing of Cox’s Bazar, particularly in neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, CAAB is separately carrying out a second-phase consultancy and design project to turn Cox’s Bazar into a full-fledged international airport and aviation hub on 682 acres west of the existing runway.

The plan includes an international-standard passenger terminal, control tower, cargo complex, convention and business centre, aviation training centre, parallel taxiway, apron and refuelling system.

The design project has so far achieved 54.35 percent physical progress.