The airport’s landing system lights are still suffering from technical issues
Published : 13 May 2024, 12:11 PM
Daytime flight service has resumed at Saidpur Airport in Nilphamari, but night flights are still uncertain as the airport’s landing system lights are still not turning on.
As of 11:30am on Monday, the technical glitch in the lighting system has yet to be fixed, according to Suplab Kumar Ghosh, manager of the busy airport in northern Bangladesh.
“Though the runway lights are broken, daytime flights are able to take off. Flights have continued since the morning. However, there is concern about night flights due to the lack of lights.”
“A technical team from Dhaka has arrived. They are trying to identify exactly where the problem is. Cables have been brought in. Work continues.”
The lights for the runway’s landing systems have been off since 6pm on Sunday after a short circuit in a cable underground. Without the runway lights, flights could not arrive or depart the airport. Usually flight service at the airport continues until 10pm.
At least three flights from Biman Bangladesh Airlines, US-Bangla Airlines, and NovoAir were cancelled due to the error, authorities said.
A flight is to depart Dhaka at 7pm on Monday on its way to Saidpur, said Bosra Islam, general manager of the Public Relations Wing of Biman Bangladesh. If the runway issue is not fixed in time, civil aviation will be contacted and the flight will be rescheduled to 5pm.
Kamrul Islam, general manager of the Public Relations Wing at US-Bangla, said, “We have a flight from Dhaka to Saidpur at around 7:30pm which is again scheduled to return from Saidpur at 8:50pm. Hopefully, a solution will be found. If not, we will reschedule the flight and announce it later.
A NovoAir flight from Dhaka to Saidpur is also scheduled to depart at 7:30pm and return on Monday night. However, an official at the airline said that action will be taken according to the instructions from civil aviation if the runway issue is not resolved.