Dhaka, July 4 (bdnews24.com) – The significant safety concern imposed on Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), the regulatory body for all aviation related activities in the country, will be withdrawn soon, the minister has said.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) imposed the significant safety concern on CAAB in 2009 due to its weakness in flight security.
"We are working to withdraw the significant safety concern and we hope that it will be withdrawn very soon," civil aviation minister G M Quader told reporters on Monday.
He was addressing a function organised to hand over the office of 'Cooperative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Programme, South Asia (COSCAP-SA) at the CAAB office at the VIP Lounge of Shahjalal International Airport.
The COSCAP-SA office was formally handed over to Bangladesh from Sri Lanka for the next five years.
ICAO president Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez was present at the ceremony.
Earlier, the Federal Aviation Administration, an operating mode of the US Department of Transportation, identified CAAB as Category-2 regulatory body. For this reason, no certified aeroplane is permitted to enter into the USA.
The eight south Asian countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives – are the members of COSCAP-SA.
CAAB chairman Air Commodore Mahmud Hussain has recently been appointed chairman of COSCAP-SA for the next two years.
"Many eminent experts will come to hand over the office. We will get assistance from them," the minister said.
"Some private organisations are waiting for our approval to start their operations here."
Gonzalez said as per the forecast of the ICAO for the next 20 years, the number of commercially run aircraft will be 152,000 from 62,000 by 2030. By the same time the number of flights of the aircraft will be 52 million from 26 million.
Bangladesh, and the Asia and the Pacific region are in a better position in terms of growth, he said and added the civil aviation authorities should recruit necessary number of manpower and strengthen economic condition to ensure proper security to the increasing sector.
Gonzalez also expressed the hope that Bangladesh would be able to lead in the development of civil aviation sector in South Asia.
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