Passenger movement through airports soars

Domestic and international air passenger movement through airports in Bangladesh shot up by 32 percent in fiscal year (FY) 2022-23, bolstered by increased domestic travel and rising outflow of migrant workers.

Airports in Bangladesh, including the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital, handled 1.53 crore domestic and international travellers in FY2022-23 compared to 1.15 crore in the previous FY2021-22, according to Civil Aviation Authority data compiled by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Some 58 lakh passengers travelled in FY2020-21.

The latest air travel figures are the highest in the last three years since airlines started operating flights following the lifting of Covid-19-induced restrictions by domestic and foreign authorities.

"This is a very good sign," said Shafiul Azim, managing director and CEO of state-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the largest domestic carrier.

Financial activities revived after Covid-19, and economic activities expanded, especially in South and Southeast Asia.

"The growth in Bangladesh is remarkable," he said, adding that investors wanted to travel by air on domestic routes.

"Although the Padma Bridge has reduced travel times, we are getting requests to increase the frequency (of flights) to Barishal," he said.

"Time is now an issue of important consideration for entrepreneurs."

Imran Asif, chief executive officer at Air Astra, said the whole world was locked down during the Covid-19 pandemic and pent-up demand had caused a surge after the reopening of activities.

"This happened not only in Bangladesh but across the whole world," he said.

Another factor is increased economic activity. "Bangladesh did not register negative growth because of the fallouts of the pandemic whereas many countries suffered a downturn," he said.

"So pent-up demand, economic growth, and investment of undeclared income in businesses fuelled air travel. This is benefiting the aviation industry."

However, Asif said air traffic growth might not continue this fiscal year. Fuel prices and the cost of dollars have risen. Of late, political uncertainty has also created a bleak outlook, he said.

"It may not be possible to maintain growth. And the impact will be higher on bigger operators," said the official of Air Astra, which began operations last year.

The BBS did not publish separate data on the number of domestic and international travellers.

Aviation sector stakeholders said there had been an upsurge in traffic movement to and from the country.

A record 11.37 lakh people from Bangladesh went abroad for jobs in FY2022-23, a 16 percent increase compared to the previous year.

That upward trend continued in the current fiscal as the rate soared 43 percent year-on-year in the July-October period of FY2023-24, with 4.82 lakh people going abroad for jobs, according to data by the Bureau of Manpower, Employment & Training.

"There has undoubtedly been growth. The movement of employment traffic has grown significantly. Employment traffic to the Far East, Europe and the Middle East has increased a lot," said Kazi Wahidul Alam, an aviation industry analyst.

At the same time, leisure traffic has risen, he added.

"We have also seen a huge number of Umrah pilgrims after the easing of the visa process."

Kamrul Islam, general manager, marketing support and public relations at US-Bangla Airlines Ltd, said overall domestic air travel was high.

Ejaz Kadry, sales and station official (international) at Turkish Airlines in Dhaka, said the flow would continue and that the number of air travellers would increase if airport facilities and other services were expanded, he said.

"Our responsibility is to increase services in line with passenger growth," said an official of the foreign airline, one of the nearly 30 foreign carriers operating from Dhaka.