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The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)—the specialized aviation agency of the United Nations—has pledged comprehensive technical, operational, and regulatory assistance to accelerate Bangladesh's civil aviation expansion and ensure the smooth operationalization of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport's newly constructed Third Terminal, high-level delegates stated on Tuesday (September 22).
The commitment was codified following high-level bilateral technical consultations between a delegation led by Bangladesh civil aviation authorities and ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano at ICAO World Headquarters in Montreal, Canada. The global regulatory body agreed to provide advanced training modules for air traffic management (ATM) specialists, aeronautical meteorologists, and airport safety auditors.
Furthermore, ICAO specialists will actively collaborate with CAAB to upgrade national radar surveillance architectures, integrate modernized NextGen automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) avionics, and streamline sovereign airspace routing protocols. These upgrades are calibrated to safely handle the projected 250 percent surge in annual passenger traffic following Terminal 3's full commercial commissioning.
"Bangladesh represents one of the fastest-growing aviation growth markets across the Asia-Pacific region," ICAO leadership noted during the Montreal proceedings. "We are fully committed to deploying our global expert teams to assist Bangladesh in institutionalizing the highest international safety baselines, supporting its strategic objective to establish Dhaka as an interconnected regional aviation transit hub between Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia."
The technical partnership will be instrumental in supporting CAAB's aggressive campaign to secure a Category-1 aviation safety rating from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Attaining Category-1 status will eliminate decades-old regulatory hurdles, finally enabling state-flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines to launch direct scheduled commercial flights between Dhaka and New York's JFK International Airport.
