Menzies plans $12m Bangladesh investment, 1,000 direct jobs if it wins Dhaka airport licence

British aviation services company, Menzies Aviation, plans to invest more than $12 million in its first year and create over 1,000 direct and 4,500 indirect jobs in Bangladesh if it secures the second ground-handling licence for the third terminal of Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The investment would mainly go towards ground support equipment, technology and training, company executives said at a briefing in Dhaka today.

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Menzies also plans to establish a training academy at the airport to train Bangladeshis to international standards, preparing them for jobs at Dhaka airport as well as opportunities across its network of 350 airports in 65 countries.

“We believe, with our business plan, we will in the first year of our operations create over a thousand well-paid jobs that are directly employed by Menzies,” said John Henderson, senior vice-president for operations, Middle East and Asia.

Local supply requirements, including uniforms and other services, could create a further 4,500 indirect jobs, he said.

Charles Wyley, executive vice-president for Middle East, Africa and Asia at Menzies Aviation, said almost the entire Bangladesh workforce would be recruited locally.

“We might have one or two [international employees], but that would be the maximum. Everyone else should be local,” he said.

The jobs would include check-in agents, baggage handlers, equipment operators, customer service, dispatch and finance management positions. New recruits would typically undergo up to a month of training before deployment, Henderson said. The company also plans to work with universities, aviation schools and other educational institutions to develop a trained workforce.

Menzies said Bangladesh could eventually become a source of aviation workers for its overseas operations, particularly in markets where it faces recruitment difficulties.

Tender under way

Menzies is competing for the second ground-handling licence through the third terminal operator consortium.

Wyley said the expression-of-interest process had been completed and the consortium had issued a request for proposals to qualified companies.

He said Menzies understands that four companies have qualified and that one or possibly two may eventually be referred to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) for licensing.

The company has also met civil aviation authorities and the aviation minister over its proposed Bangladesh operations.

Asked about its chances against other international bidders, Menzies executives declined to discuss competitors’ pricing, saying bids were confidential.

Henderson said Menzies would not call itself the cheapest operator but would compete on “value for money”, safety, service quality and operational performance.

'First bag in 10-15 minutes'

Menzies said its international standard is to deliver the first bag from a wide-body aircraft within 10 to 15 minutes and the last within 40 minutes.

Executives said the third terminal’s automated infrastructure should allow baggage handling to be monitored in real time, from an aircraft to the arrival belt. Service-level agreements and key performance indicators could also allow CAAB to monitor performance hour by hour.

Asked whether another ground handler could reduce airfares, Wyley said ground handling accounts for only a small part of an airline’s operating costs.

“The cost of turning an aircraft is less than the price of one business-class seat,” he said, adding that fuel and other airline operating expenses account for far larger costs.

Henderson said attracting more international airlines to Dhaka and increasing competition among carriers could have a greater impact on ticket prices. Some airline customers, he said, had indicated that an international ground handler could make Dhaka more attractive to them.

Cargo opportunities

Menzies also sees opportunities in Bangladesh’s air cargo sector, particularly because of exports such as garments.

Even if another operator manages the cargo warehouse, the ground handler would be responsible for moving freight from the warehouse to aircraft, the company said. Wyley said Menzies had also offered technology and other services to help improve cargo operations.

Menzies began in Scotland in 1833 and entered the aviation business in the 1990s. It provides ground handling, cargo, aircraft fuelling and passenger services and currently employs more than 65,000 people worldwide.

Asked whether geopolitical considerations or political influence could affect the selection of the ground handler, Sakib Ershad, director of trade and investment at the British High Commission in Bangladesh, did not directly address the question.

“We’re very confident in the Menzies proposal, and they have set out very clearly [what it offers] for Bangladesh, and we’re very thankful for that,” he said.