Sylhet airport to finally get refuelling station

Three newly-built fuel storage tanks and other installations at Sylhet Osmani International Airport in Sylhet city. The airport had been lacking refuelling facilities for the last 16 years since it was declared international in 1998, and thus was unable to return international flights, which landed at the airport. The fuel station is expected to start operation in August. Photo: Star

Sixteen years after the Sylhet airport was declared international in 1998, the airport will finally have refuelling facilities for aircraft.
The authorities concerned are hopeful that aeroplanes can be refuelled in Sylhet by August.
The refuelling station in Sylhet will be complete once South African company Encon Engineering Projects (Pvt) Ltd, which is implementing the project, gives the finishing touches to the storage tanks, said officials of Bangladesh Petroleum Company, superviser of the project.
Completion of the project would allow aircraft to make return flights at Sylhet Osmani International Airport. At the moment, international flights by domestic carriers only land at the airport. The aircraft which land in Sylhet fly to Dhaka for refuelling.   
Officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) said 10 international flights land at Sylhet airport from London and the Middle East weekly.  
“After the refuelling station becomes operable, foreign and domestic carriers will be able to operate international flights to and from here,” said Md Hafiz Ahmed, manager at Caab, Sylhet.  
Jabbar Jalil, president of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh, Sylhet chapter, said currently around 2,000 people of Sylhet travel to the capital weekly to fly to London and the Middle-East.
“The refuelling station will allow those people to fly directly from Sylhet to their destinations,” he added.
Jet fuel, needed for aircraft refuelling, will be stored at the airport and at South Surma in Sylhet city. Both the sites have three storage tanks with four lakh litre capacity each.
The 50-crore “Construction of Aviation Refuelling Facilities at Sylhet Osmani International Airport” was approved by the energy ministry in 2010, said Md Aminul Haque, the project manager and also the deputy general manager of state-run Padma Oil Company, adding that it was revised at Tk 51.18 crore in December 2012.    
“The project was revised again in September 2013 at Tk 53.15 crore,” he further said.
Imported jet fuel will be brought to South Surma by rail from Chittagong and then taken to the airport by road, said the project manager.
“Railway authorities delayed in recovering land in South Surma from illegal grabbers, which was the main reason why the project took so long to be implemented,” said Jabbar Jalil.        
Md Hafiz Ahmed said, “Refuelling facilities have been a necessity since the airport was upgraded over a decade ago. Although the airport has modern facilities and an extended runway, regular international flights cannot be operated since aeroplanes cannot be refuelled in Sylhet.”