Barisal Airport
| Barisal Airport বরিশাল বিমানবন্দর Barisal Airport |
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| Characteristics | |||
| ICAO code | VGBR | ||
| IATA code | BZL | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 3 m (10 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 13 km northwest of Barisal | ||
| Street | N8 | ||
| Local transport | Bus, rickshaw | ||
| Basic data | |||
| operator | Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh | ||
| Passengers | 798 (April to June 2013) | ||
| Air freight | 94 t (April to June 2013) | ||
| Start-and runway | |||
| 17/35 | 1829 m × 30 m asphalt concrete | ||
The Barisal Airport ( Bengali বরিশাল বিমানবন্দর , english Barisal Airport ) is a domestic airport near the same-named town Barisal in southern Bangladesh . The airport is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh . The only destination airport is Dhaka Airport, 116 kilometers away as the crow flies . In the three months of April to June 2013, 798 passengers and 94 tons of freight were handled in Barisal (previously there was no flight operation for some time). The airport was thus by far the smallest in terms of handling of the five domestic airports and three international airports in Bangladesh at the time.
History and expansion plans
In 1968, a runway measuring 549 meters × 18 meters (1800 ft × 60 ft) was opened in Barisal , which was primarily intended for small aircraft that were to spray pesticides over the surrounding agricultural areas. From 1992/1993, the runway was expanded to 1,829 meters × 30 meters (6000 ft × 100 ft). The expanded airport was opened as a regional airport in 1999. The total construction costs amounted to 244.9 million Taka (approx. 4.4 million euros in 1999).
On October 3, 2015, the Ministry of Transport of Bangladesh announced that the airport would be expanded further. Among other things, the runway is to be enlarged to 2590 meters × 45 meters. The type of aircraft usually used for flight connections to Barisal is the De Havilland DHC-8 . According to the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an airport at which this type of aircraft is to land should have a runway at least 1200–1800 meters long × 45 meters wide. Barisal Airport has not yet met these requirements with regard to the width of the runway, but this will be the case after the expansion. The number of aircraft parking spaces is to be increased from currently three to five. The expansion should be completed by June 2018 and the total costs were estimated at 6.89 billion Taka (approx. 79 million euros). So far (as of 2015), the airport can only be approached during the daytime due to the lack of sufficient lighting on the runway.
Flight operations
In the past, the airport was served by various small airlines ( Aero Bengal Airlines , Air Parabat , GMG Airlines , United Airways ), but they discontinued their flight connections due to lack of demand and lack of profitability. For several years there was no commercial flight operation.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines , which had already operated the airport from December 1995 to November 2006, resumed flights to Barisal on April 8, 2015. US Bangla Airlines has also been flying to the airport since July 2015. Currently, on average, less than one scheduled aircraft lands at the airport every day.
In 2007, the airport was heavily used by cargo planes bringing relief supplies to the southern districts of Bangladesh, which were devastated by cyclone Sidr .
See also
Web links
- Aeronautical map for Barisal Airport on SkyVector.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ AIP BANGLADESH VGBR AD2. (PDF) Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, accessed on February 16, 2016 .
- ↑ 6.09 PASSENGER MOVEMENT BY AIRPORTS / AERODROMES, 6.10 FREIGHT / MAILS LOADED AND UNLOADED BY AIRPORTS / AERODROMES. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Director General, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Statistics and Informatics Division (SID), Ministry of Planning, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, archived from the original on January 13, 2016 ; accessed on February 15, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d Barisal airport running in the dark. (No longer available online.) Dhaka Tribune , April 22, 2015, archived from the original on February 15, 2016 ; accessed on February 15, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b FHM Humayan Kabir: Barisal airport to be upgraded at a cost of Tk 6.89 billion: Runway, other facilities to be expanded. (No longer available online.) The Financial Express October 3, 2015, archived from the original on February 15, 2016 ; accessed on February 15, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ashik Hossain: Three domestic airports in Bangladesh 'not suitable' for Dash-8 aircraft. bdnews24.com, September 5, 2015, accessed February 11, 2016 .
- ↑ US-Bangla to start flights to Barisal, Rajshahi. The Daily Star, July 8, 2015, accessed February 15, 2016 .
- ↑ (BZL) Barisal Airport Arrivals. flightstats.com, accessed February 15, 2016 .
