The authority of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport said the luggage of 2022 SAFF champion footballers were received by the Bangladesh Football Federation representative in a “locked and intact” condition. The authority also said they did not find any irregularity in handling the luggage at the airport, after going over CCTV footage. Earlier, at least two members of the Bangladesh women’s football team claimed their luggage were broken into at the airport and money was stolen. Read: Sabina wants to keep winning trophies playing entertaining football The footballers said they lost around Tk 2.5 lac which was in their luggage. “After receiving the complaint, we checked the CCTV footage and found that the complaint (of luggage being broken into) is not true,” a press release from HSIA authority reads. The press release was signed by the executive director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Kamrul Islam. Read: Footballer Ritu Porna suffers head injury during victory ride on open-deck bus SAFF Women's Championship 2022 winner Bangladesh  team landed in Dhaka on Wednesday around 1:45 pm. They were taken to the headquarters of Bangladesh Football Federation from there by an open-deck bus. It was the first time that a Bangladesh women’s football team won the SAFF Championship.

PM’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman has expressed dissatisfaction with the standard of customer services at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. He expressed his discontent after a surprise visit to the airport at 3pm on Monday. Salman said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sent him to visit the airport receiving news that passengers are being harassed in various ways at Shahjalal Airport. Also read: Govt to provide financial support to ensure compliance in industries: Salman F Rahman “What we’ve seen is that the passengers are harassed in two or three place.  Overall I’m not satisfied. There are many scopes to improve the situation from what I have seen,” he said. The PM’s adviser told the authorities concerned to improve the situation. “Those who are in the field need to change their mindset,” he said. He said many complaints are found as the passengers are being subjected to unnecessary harassments in the airport. He said the Prime Minister has asked for solutions and coordination to remove the ordeals. “If we see that the rate of complaints is not decreasing after today's visit, then strict action will be taken,” he added. "The government has taken this matter very seriously. We started the process today,” said Salman F Rahman. Also read: Mediation, arbitration for commercial disputes not being used widely: Salman F Rahman PMO senior secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah and high officials of the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh and the airport were present.

The High Court on Sunday directed the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to control mosquitoes at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. The bench of Justice JBM Hasan and Fatema Najib passed the order during a hearing on a supplementary petition submitted in this regard. The court asked the Civil Aviation Authority Bangladesh (CAAB) chairman to submit a report in this regard within the next 10 days. Read: 319 illegal brick kilns in Dhaka, 4 surrounding districts, DoE DG reports to HC Advocate Tanvir Ahmed appeared for the petitioners during the hearing. The petition was submitted attaching a recently published report in this regard on a national daily newspaper, said advocate Tanvir.   On February 26, 2019, the lawyer sent a legal notice to the authority after spotting some local and foreign passengers being menaced by mosquitos during his visit to the airport at night. He asked the authority to take steps in this regard within three days of receiving the notice as it will degrade the country's reputation. Read:HC allows Evaly’s Rassel, Shamima to transfer 50 % of their shares to relatives On March 3, that year he filed a writ petition to the High Court in this regard after receiving no reply to the notice. On March 12, 2019, the High Court issued a rule questioning the negligence of the authority in killing mosquitoes at the Shahjalal International Airport. Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, CAAB Chairman, Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor and commissioner of the ward adjacent to the airport were made respondents to the rule.

Police detained two people, including a security guard of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, with 30 gold bars worth Tk2.25 crore at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Thursday evening. The detainees are security guard Ibrahim Khalil and Kamal Uddin, a passenger who arrived at the airport on a Biman flight from Saudi Arabia's Riyadh. The Airport Armed Police Battalion first detained Ibrahim due to his suspicious movement; he handed gold bars, weighing around 3.5kg, from inside his jacket. Kamal, who carried the gold to the airport, was held based on the information given by Ibrahim, said Ziaul Haque, additional superintendent (media) of the Airport Armed Police. "Noakhali's Ibrahim was supposed to get Tk1.95 lakh to take the gold bars out of the airport after Feni's Kamal brought the precious metal there. A case will be filed against them at Airport Police Station," he added.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has urged the government to take immediate steps to fix the inoperative explosive detection systems (EDS) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The association also called for increasing the number of scanners to speed up the process of scanning export cargoes. A BGMEA delegation, led by the president of the apparel sector's apex body Faruque Hassan, made the request to Md Mokammel Hossain, secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, during a meeting at the secretariat Sunday. BGMEA vice-presidents Shahidullah Azim, Khandoker Rafiqul Islam, Md Nasir Uddin and Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, managing director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, were also present at the meeting. READ: BGMEA seeks Germany’s support to continue duty benefits in EU RMG exports are being hampered as two EDS machines have remained out of service while another two newly installed EDS machines at the airport could be made operational as they are yet to get validated. So, the BGMEA leaders stressed regularly carrying out maintenance of the EDS to keep them operational as the scanning process is hampered very often due to technical glitches. They also requested the authorities to ensure enough space at the scanning area so that export cargoes could be scanned in an orderly manner and shipped timely. Besides, a spacious parking lot is needed to keep the export freight after scanning for air shipment. READ: BGMEA wants Denmark's support to continue duty benefits in EU market The delegation called on bringing RMG goods inside the cargo village or canopy immediately after unloading them from aircraft so that they are not damaged due to rain. The BGMEA leaders requested for steps to properly stack RMG goods in the cargo shed so that cargoes can be found out easily and released quickly.

The much-awaited RT-PCR labs to conduct Covid-19 tests for the departing passengers will go into full-scale operation at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport  on Tuesday. Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman announced this after launching the RT-PCR labs on experimental basis at the airport on Saturday. Read: Covid testing at Dhaka airport to begin on Saturday, says health minister State Minster for Civil Aviation and Tourism M Mahbub Ali, Secretary Mokammel Hossain and Chairman of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation Hannan Mia were, among others, present. The United Arab Emirates has imposed a condition that the passengers travelling to the UAE will have to conduct Covid-19 test at the airport 48 hours or 6-hours before departing the country, said the CAAB Chairman. “We have taken an initiative to launch the RT-PCR lab inside the airport with coordination of the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, Health and Foreign Ministries and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) conducted a test operation today,” he said.   “If the test-run goes successfully, then we will inform the airlines authorities and for this we need 48 hours and we hope those will start full-scale operation from September 28,” he added. There will be 12 machines installed at the 6 labs at the airport. At least 3-4.5 thousand people will be able to test at these labs every day. Read: Covid in Bangladesh: 24 die in 24 hours, lowest since May 15

Braving the pandemic, the work on the construction of the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is progressing in full swing with officials saying that parts of the much-awaited building will be visible by December this year. The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh informed that already 22 percent of construction work has been completed and it is expected to gain momentum now that Covid-19 infections are on the wane. CAAB  Chairman Air Vice Marshal Mafidur Rahman told UNB that the construction of the 3rd terminal would be completed on time. Read BGMEA wants better cargo handling services at Dhaka airport “The progress of the work is very satisfactory,” he said. “The construction work is moving on faster than anticipated. The project will be visible from the outside within December this year,” he said. State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahbub Ali told UNB that the terminal, designed by renowned architect Rohani Baharin, will match the world’s most modern airports. Also read: PM inaugurates construction of Dhaka airport’s ‘Third Terminal’ Rohani is famous for her works with Changi International Airport’s Terminal 3, Wuhan Tianhe Terminal 2, Guanghzhou Baiyun New International Airport, Ahmedabad International Airport, New Islamabad International Airport, Can Tho and Phu Quoc International Airports. The state minister said that the construction work is moving faster than the draft plan which makes them hopeful that it can be inaugurated before the scheduled time, which is 2023. He said that even during the onslaught of Covid, the construction work didn’t stop for a single day and around 4,000 national and international workers are working on the project maintaining all the Covid safety protocols. Read Cox's Bazar Airport set to get a spectacular maritime runway

Covid testing at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka will begin within three to four days, said chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) Air-Vice Marshal M Mofidur Rahman on Saturday. He said this during his visit to the site designated for RT-PCR booths to be set up at the car parking lot of the airport for migrant workers. The Caab chairman said the Covid testing will begin once the diagnostic centre, selected by the authorities, sets up its RT-PCR mobile booths. Also read: Vaccination of students aged 12-17 to begin within 20 days: Health Minister On September 6, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said PCR booths will be set up at three international airports of Bangladesh to facilitate passengers to take Covid-19 tests four to six hours before boarding their flights. Also read: Covid claims 51 more lives in Bangladesh, case positivity rate falls to 5.98 per cent The directive came from a cabinet meeting held with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.  He said the PCR booths will be set up at Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet international airports.

Customs officials detained a man along with 37 gold bars worth Tk 3 crore at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on his arrival from Saudi Arabia on Monday. The detainee was identified as Mahin Uddin from Cumilla district. Deputy Commissioner of the Dhaka Customs House (preventive team) Mohammad Abdus Sadek said a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines landed at the airport around 3:11 pm on Monday. Also read: Three held with Tk 8cr-worth liquid gold at Dhaka airport Tipped off, a preventive team of the Dhaka Customs challenged Mahin, a passenger of the flight at the boarding bridge and brought him to the green channel of the airport. Later, they recovered the gold bars weighing 4.29 Kgs from his handbag in presence of other officials.  Mahin claimed that the gold bars were handed over to him by a fellow immigrant from Cumilla named Jakir Hossain at King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia, said the customs official. An anonymous man was to receive the bars from Mahin outside the airport upon arrival, he said. Also read: Man held with 52 gold bars at Dhaka airport He was handed over to the Airport Police Station. A case was filed in this connection.

Airport Armed Police Battalion (AAP) members on Monday morning detained a man along with currencies of eight countries worth Tk 2.5 crore from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The detainee was identified as Jahangir Gazi, 36. Read: Three held with Tk 8cr-worth liquid gold at Dhaka airport Additional Superintendent (media) of AAP  Md Jiaul Haque said tipped off, they detained Gazi right after he completed his boarding pass and initially recovered 50,000 Saudi Riyal from his possession. “Later we scanned all of his belongings and recovered the rest of the currencies,” he added.