Teams from the European Union and United States will inspect the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport over the next two weeks to review its security arrangement, days after the suspension of direct cargo flight between Dhaka and London. A European Union independent Validator will start inspection of the cargo at the Dhaka airport today to see whether to renew the annual permit to export cargo to EU countries, airport officials said. Officials said that a United States team will inspect the HSIA on March 23. The Civil Aviation Authorities, Bangladesh officials said that they were working to meet all the requirements set by the UK and the European Union. A CAAB official told New Age that an EU independent validator will start inspecting the Dhaka airport to complete their final report, after recently carrying out pre-inspection. ‘If we pass the inspection, our cargo service to the EU region will continue,’ the official said, adding, ‘the validity of our current permit will expire on March 31.’ Currently the EU requires air carriers to be designated as ‘Air Cargo or Mail Carrier operating into the Union from a Third Country Airport’. Bangladesh received its last ACC3 validation on July 1 2014. The validations are issued after a successful EU Aviation Security Validation performed by an Independent Validator, accredited by an EU Member State. The airport official hoped that Bangladesh will meet the requirements necessary for renewal of its annual ACC3. Another airport official told New Age a United States delegation is scheduled to visit the airport on March 23 to review passenger safety. The official said ‘we need screening machines and other security devices right at the moment, rather than manpower, to meet the international standard.’ Meanwhile, UK transport authority had reportedly provided a scathing assessment of the security at HSIA in its report in December, before finally suspending direct cargo flights to UK on March 8. The UK authorities had also done another assessment of HSIA security in November that year. The authorities found fault with supervision, body searches, screening, and security of baggage. The airport officials told New Age that the UK transport authority was especially miffed with ‘misleading information’ over the application of the Explosives Trace Detection. Reportedly, the Bangladeshi authorities had underutilised the ETD, donated by UK, and then misreported on the frequency of its use. The UK’s transport department report in December 2015 had said that ‘the application of ETD as an additional gate room measure was not particularly effective.’ The report also read there was no ETD in the front house area as the machine had been moved to the hold baggage screening area. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association leader Shahidullah Azim told New Age they were not only ‘worried’ about the UK’s decision, but were more worried now about the decision of EU as ‘sixty per cent of our export are made for EU.’ The government is worried about the current situation as business groups, among others, are putting pressure on them. The worried civil aviation and tourism minister Rashed Khan Menon was now rushing in and out of the Dhaka airport, where more than 90 per cent of CAAB’s functions are carried out. On weekend Saturday, Rashed Khan paid a surprise visit to the cargo village at the airport to see whether the security system had been improved. Biman Bangladesh Airlines provides cargo services worldwide through 55 airlines carrying 500-700 tonnes of goods on average a day.
