Editorial
ZIA's potential yet to be realised
Pragmatic policy required
It is disconcerting news that while Zia International Airport (ZIA) has the potential to earn huge revenues for the country it remains underutilised at the moment because of lack of vision, planning and initiative. A report says that Bangladesh could earn over Taka 400 crore annually as extra revenue if the passenger handling capacity of ZIA could be put to full use by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB). While we believe Tk. 400 crore is a huge sum for a country like Bangladesh, we fail to understand what is stopping the authorities concerned from going all out towards tripling of the present income.
It is being put forward by experts that the envisaged revenue enhancement would become a reality with the opening up of ZIA to more international airlines, but for reasons unknown, bureaucratic entanglement remains the problem in this regard. A section within the aviation authorities is allegedly overprotective of Bangladesh Biman despite its limited operational capability and none-too-efficient ground handling. Simple statistics show that while ZIA can handle about 85 lakh (8.5 million) passengers yearly, it now does only about 32 lakh (3.2 million). That is nearly one-third of its capacity, which explains the deficit in revenue.
We understand the target of enhancing revenue can be achieved through allowing more foreign airlines to use the facilities at ZIA on a regular basis, including during the off-peak hours. The revenue would come from offering various aeronautical and non-aeronautical services like landing, parking and route navigation etc. We believe there is substance in the argument that allowing more foreign airlines would also result in healthy competition among the airlines, improvement of services and reduction in ticket price. This means more people would travel in future by air than what they do now.
There is no denying that to increase revenue earning at ZIA, CAAB will have to ensure upgrading of ground handling equipment as per international demand. It might prove to be prudent to involve the private sector in such a highly precision and technology-driven enterprise. With more and more airlines applying for permission to use ZIA, we see no reason why we should not grab the opportunity.
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