Best Air is among the four local carriers whose operations were suspended by Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh after International Civil Aviation Organisation raised safety concerns over the airlines. www.bestairbd.com

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has suspended operations of four local airlines after International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) raised significant safety concerns over issuance of air operator certificates by the local regulator, insiders said.

The four carriers are Best Air, Mid Asia, THT and Voyager.

The CAAB has also asked seven other airlines to improve their safety compliance standards as part of its corrective measures to eliminate the drawback as the name of Bangladesh is expected to be posted on ICAO website along with 10 other countries.

“We've done well in many areas. But at one point, the safety concern has come. We hope to get shot of the drawback within two-three months as we are taking corrective actions,” said Wing Commander M Kamrul Islam, director for Flight Safety and Regulations of CAAB.

The ICAO, following its oversight safety audit of Bangladesh in May, identified safety vulnerability observing that the local civil aviation regulator, CAAB, has issued licences to air operators without ensuring full compliance with national regulations and international standards.

Officials however hoped CAAB would come out of the safety concern list within a couple of months as it has taken corrective measures such as suspension of operation of carriers including passenger service provider Best Air and cargo service operators Mid Asia, THT and Voyager, insiders said.

Seven other operators -- passenger service providers Biman, GMG, United and Aviana, and cargo operators Bismillah, Zoom Air and Easy Fly -- have been asked for improving their compliance.

Of the seven carriers, compliance standard of Biman is much better followed by United Airways, officials said.

In its audit, the ICAO found flaws in certification process established by the CAAB saying that the latter does not address issues such as review and approval of an air operator's flight safety document system, coordination between operations, airworthiness, and review and approval of an air operator's operations manual.

The ICAO also observed weaknesses in review and approval of training programmes for flight crew, cabin crew and operations personnel and air operators' ground handling arrangements.

The global aviation organisation suggested that CAAB should conduct an evaluation of all air operators immediately.

It also recommended developing and implementing a comprehensive certification process ensuring all compliance issues, and a system for maintaining records of all certifications related to applicants and holders of AOCs.

Offering an action plan template, the global aviation agency early last month also asked the CAAB to inform it about the corrective actions with warning that it (ICAO) would post safety concerns on its website if any issue remains unresolved.

Officials said the CAAB, following the ICAO recommendations, conducted assessment on compliance performance of local carriers and found various deficiencies in the local airlines.

“Based on this we have initiated major actions such as suspension of licences of some airlines and at the same time asked some to improve their compliance performances,” said Kamrul, also national coordinator for ICAO matters.

“We hope to resolve all concerns as soon as possible.”

sohel@thedailystar.net