Ctg, Sylhet airports shut for 6-hr a day

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh is keeping the international airports in Chittagong and Sylhet virtually closed for around six hours a day due to a shortage of manpower.
The officers and staff at the airports had been working between 18 and 22 hours a day for years, an unsafe practice considering possible disaster due to human error from fatigue and exhaustion.
But Caab has had enough and it is putting its foot down. During the closure, there is no one at the control towers, not even air traffic control (ATC) personnel.
For passengers this could mean that if their international flights to Sylhet or Chittagong get delayed, their planes might have to land in Dhaka and leave for the airports when they open hours later.
Since Wednesday the airports closed at midnight and opened in the early morning.
This worried airlines since an aircraft flying into Bangladesh and requiring emergency landing facilities could be in trouble. When they are closed, the two airports cannot be used as alternate airports for planes flying into Dhaka.
A top Caab official told The Daily Star wishing anonymity, “Fatigue might cause a disaster as the staff in the control tower and firefighting units may not be at their best.”
Giving an instance, he said the firefighting unit at Chittagong airport needs 84 people to work in four shifts with 21 people in each shift. The airport only has 23 firefighters.
“Our existing manpower was recruited considering morning to evening operations of the airports in Chittagong and Sylhet in 1984. The operation time and airports' capacity expanded, but the manpower remained the same,” Caab Director (ATS/Aerodromes) Azad Zahurul Islam said.  
He said the manpower shortage plagued all airports and units as there has not been a recruitment for around four years due to a court order.
The court issued the order after some daily basis employees filed a writ seeking the court's order banning new recruitments until their services were regularised.
Azad, however, said the writ had recently been vacated, clearing the way for recruitments.
The closure of Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong and MAG Osmani International Airport in Sylhet is causing inconvenience to different airlines, particularly Biman Bangladesh Airlines, sources said.
Biman officials said in case of delays of any scheduled flights to Chittagong and Sylhet airports, they would have to land the plane at Shahjalal and then fly to the airports when they open, causing sufferings to passengers and loss to Biman.
In reply to the Biman managing director's request for an early watch extension at Sylhet airport, Azad wrote on June 19 that due to the acute shortage of manpower in all airports, same set of officers and staff continue to work for 18-22 hours, which was not safe for operation considering human performance.
He requested the Biman MD to consider the shortage of manpower and the performance limitation before asking for early watch or watch extensions.
Azad told The Daily Star that the Caab was still keeping the operation of the airports open when they are requested for delayed flights, but he feared Caab might not continue to do so in future.
The existing Caab organogram, approved upon an ordinance in 1985, has 3,716 posts with a chairman as its head. Caab is awaiting government approval for its restructured organogram that proposes creating around 7,000 new jobs to correct serious lapses in security, supervision and monitoring at airports.
Caab had submitted the draft organogram to the civil aviation ministry in February last year proposing 13,776 posts for officials and staff. The ministry after scrutiny reduced the number to 10,694 and forwarded it to the establishment ministry in April.
“In the last 30 years we couldn't recruit any additional manpower although the aviation activities have increased 10 to 15 times,” a top Caab official said.
Biman officials said usually airlines want their flights to land at airports at late hours, so that passengers could be out of the airport in the morning and go to their destinations safely.
“If flights land in late hours we can send them to other destinations in the morning, considered the prime time for departures,” a Biman official said wishing anonymity.