British prime minister David Cameron in a letter to his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina said that lifting the ban on Dhaka-London direct air cargo flights would depend on independent validation certificate on Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The letter from the British prime minister was sent to Hasina on April 7 through diplomatic channel, an official concerned said. Mentioning the latest initiatives to strengthen the airport security, Cameron said that Bangladesh was addressing their observations regarding the airport security very fast, but the withdrawal of the ban would now depend on the independent validation certificate on the airport security, the official said. A senior civil aviation ministry official said that EU Independent aviation security validator Denis O’Sullivan, also and ICAO AVSEC manger at Business Change Consultancy based in United Kingdom, was already invited to visit Dhaka airport for renewal of ACC3 certificate. enis O’Sullivan is scheduled for April 28 to visit Dhaka airport, according to the official. The British authority banned direct air cargo flight on security ground from February 8. In the middle of March, Hasina wrote back to Cameron and requested a review of the ban. In reply to Cameron’s March 8 letter, Hasina also wished to work together with the British government on meeting all the global security requirements at Dhaka airport. The EU validator in March made his five-day inspection of the cargo village to complete his final security audit report. ‘After his inspection, Denis O’Sullivan made a number of observations to improve the situation…We have already followed the instructions to ensure sustainable improvement,’ the official said. Currently, the EU requires air carriers to be designated as ‘Air Cargo or Mail Carrier operating into the European 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, said a civil aviation authority official. Following the ban, the government on March 21 signed a Tk 75.25 crore ‘unsolicited’ deal with British firm Redline for two years to impart training to the existing manpower and monitor screening at cargo and other places at the airport.
