Evaluation of airport configuration to accommodate increasing air traffic demand in Bangladesh

Abstract

Due to highly congested and time-consuming roadway, waterway and emerging business and tourism in Bangladesh, the air travel demand is increasing rapidly. At present the Aggregate growth in air passenger movement is 9.9%, cargo movement is 7.4% and in 2012-2013, the Biman Bangladesh carried a total number of 15, 72,708 passengers and 33434 tons of cargos. To meet the demand, at present all aviation activities are carried out from three international and six domestic airports and five STOL’s. Country’s main airport Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), Dhaka handles nearly 50 percent of the country's international and domestic arrivals and departures annually while the other two international airports, Shah Amanat International Airport (SAIA), Chittagong and Osmani International Airport (OIA), Sylhet handle nearly 21% and 4% respectively and the remaining 25% is handled by Bangladesh's domestic airports. There are about 18 domestic and 19 international airlines are now operating in and out of the country and B777-300ER aircraft has become the most demanding aircraft in Bangladesh which FAA and ICAO code are D-V and 4-E respectively. From the study it is found that, all the three international airports are facilitating with single runway systems. The HSIA, SAIA and OIA have runways designated as 14-32, 5-23, and 11-29 respectively. The runway dimensions for HSIA, SAIA and OIA are 3200m x 45m, 2940m x 45m and 3125m x 46m respectively. The HSIA runway meets the length requirement for the current design aircraft while the other two international airport runways have failed for Code E aircrafts. The width provided is adequate for all three international airports for category E design aircraft. The future demand for category F design aircraft requires the width to be increased to 60m for all the three international airports in Bangladesh. The HSIA is provided parallel taxiway system with a rapid exit taxiway at 14 End of the runway whereas the other two airports have central taxiways. The Taxiway width provided for the international airports in Bangladesh is sufficient to fulfill the requirements for Code E aircrafts. In 2012, the HSIA, SAIA and OIA accommodate 5.57, 0.92 and 0.21 million passengers annually while their design capacities are 8, 1.5 and 0.5 million per year respectively. In this respect the linear terminal design may be modified to pier or satellite terminal design to meet the future demand. The Approach Lighting system of HSIA is Precision Approach Cat-I (14 End) and Simple Approach with Sequenced Flashing Lights (32 End) where the other two airports has Simple Approach Lighting System on both ends. The Approach Lighting system should be upgraded to Cat-II in accordance with ICAO standards. The threshold lighting SAIA and OIA should be supplemented by wing bars and runway centerline lighting should be provided to facilitate operations of wide bodied aircrafts, especially during night and poor visibility conditions. All the three international airports are equipped with the NAVAIDS such as- DVOR, DME, NDB, ILS, MM, OM and OL. However, these navigational aids are in very poor condition and have a very low reliability, which needs urgent replacements.