Condition of ground handling at Chittagong and Sylhet, the other two international airports are even much inferior to HSIA. None of these two airports are equipped with even minimum required facilities. This far, improvement of the ground handling of both passenger and cargo, remained confined to promises.
The importance
The ground handlings represent the most important aspects of an international airline’s operations. The jobs cover functions like passenger check in, aircraft handling, fuelling, cleaning, mooring, baggage handling and boarding/deplaning passengers. The handling add-resses the many service requirements of a passenger aircraft between the time it arrives at a terminal gate and the time it departs on its next flight.
Ground handling deals with diverse tasks and very complex operations. Many tasks are performed simultaneously. Speed, efficiency and accuracy are important in ground handling services in order to minimise the turnaround time, that is–the time during which the aircraft must remain parked at the gate. It is also an important factor for air carriers in terms of operating costs, service levels and the image portrayed to users. The turnaround time is about 60 minutes. Therefore, adaptability skills of all workers and managers are crucial.
Inside the airport terminal, ground handling provides arrival and departure services. These services include check-in counter services for the passengers departing. The agents are required to meet a flight on arrival as well as provide departure services including boarding passengers, closing the flight, staffing the transfer counters, customer service counters, airline lounges, etc.
Field operation service dispatches the aircraft, maintains communication with rest of the airline operation at the airport and with Air Traffic Control.
Deplorable situation
Almost on all counts, ground handling at HSIA now can simply be described as deplorable.
Airlines, operating to and from the airport, alleged lack of support from Biman– the ground-handling agent (GHA). Biman has the monopoly in this regard, so there is no alternative for the users, but continue to suffer. Instead of improvement, the ground handling services standard of Biman, is gradually nose-diving.
Check-in passengers, one of the most important services of airlines, are hit by shortage of manpower. Biman, the GHA provide only three staff to handle check-in of passengers of a 400-seat B777. Sometimes, on a busy day, only one staff is provided to handle a flight. No manpower is provided for manning other required jobs. So the functions at the boarding gate have to be carried out by the same check-in-staff of Biman with respective airline staff.
Biman always give manpower shortage as the excuse for not providing required number of staff to help airlines perform their customer services efficiently.
It may be mentioned that at the nearby Netaji Subash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata the GHA provides at least 13 personnel for the same type of job in various areas.
The airlines said 200 plus staff are needed in every shift “above the wing” and “below the wing,” in airline terminology. But they allege that Biman is running every shift with hardly 60 staff. The staff on duty are prone to walking off duty, without completing the task, during change of their shifts.
Airlines airport staff remarked that when we do not get adequate check-in staff, perhaps it is useless to talk of counter supervisor– needed to supervise during check-in.
The airlines alleged that Biman staff lack product knowledge and they hardly show any interest on different airlines’ products and how to deliver them. This, quite often leads to check-in discrepancy, which could lead to security breach as well.
They pointed out past instances like extra passenger on board; passenger leading to boarding gate not being checked-in as well as “void” boarding card being handed over to passengers and the recent incident of a lady boarding a flight without a ticket or boarding card.
The airlines alleged that check-in staff always reports late to the check-in counters and a number of reminders are required for them to report (to the counter). On a high profile flight this creates an extra pressure on airlines’ staff, who have to struggle till last close of the counter.
They complained about the laid back attitude of the Biman staff who hardly show any enthusiasm while engaged in check-in. They are neither customer oriented nor focused on customer service and its delivery with warmth and care. Because of this laid back from the GHA staff, the airlines quite often receive complaint from passengers.
As they are highly unionised, management of Biman is not in a position to take any action against inefficient or defaulting staff.
Service level agreement with “penalty clause” is an imperative component and vital to ensuring the required standard service by the GHA to the airlines. But since its birth till date, Biman management never signed Service Level Agreement (SLA) with any of the operating airlines, although Biman claims to be IOSA compliant.
In different airports around the world, many airlines do their own ground handling. Moreover, there are multiple agencies and airlines can choose any of them for their ground-handling jobs. So, airlines sometimes subcontract ground handling to another airline, as it is a cheaper alternative to setting up its own ground handling.
In Bangladesh, however Biman is enjoying monopoly in providing ground handling to other airlines. And being a monopoly, the GHA is exploiting the situation. As a result despite knowing historical weakness of the GHA and its low level of services, which made the operating airlines struggle to maintain their minimum standard of service delivery, they find no alternative.
Ramp operation
Ramp operations are a very important part of the whole ground handling part of an aircraft. It covers the loading and unloading of baggage, air cargo and air-mail onto the aircraft and transportation between the aircraft and the passenger terminal, air cargo terminals and the air-mail centre.
Cabin services ensure passenger comfort and safety. They include such tasks as cleaning the passenger cabin and replenishment of on-board consumables or washable items such as soap, pillows, tissues, blankets, and magazines. Security checks are also made to make sure no threats have been left on the aircraft.
In addition to this, ramp-handling services cover preparations for the delivery onto aircraft of bulk baggage and baggage containers, aircraft loading bridge operations and passenger stairs operations. As we can see, it is a very complex situation where delivery precision and safety are very important issues.
Aircraft ground handling defines the servicing of an aircraft while it is on the ground and (usually) parked at a terminal gate of an airport.
Shortage of GSE
Ground support equipment (GSE) is the support equipment found at an airport, usually on the ramp, the servicing area by the terminal. These equipment are used to service the aircraft between flights. As its name implies, GSE is there to support the operations of aircraft on the ground. The functions that this equipment plays generally, involve ground power operations, aircraft mobility and loading operations (for both cargo and passengers).
These are: Chocks, Non-powered equipment, Bag carts, Trolleys for containers and pallets, Powered equipment, Refuellers, Tugs and tractors, Ground power units, Buses, Container loader, Transporters, Air starter, Potable water trucks, Lavatory service vehicles, Catering vehicle, Belt loaders, Passenger boarding stairs, Pushback tugs and tractors etc.
This description of what equipment ground handlers need shows that these activities require huge investments. Equipment is very diverse and the required number of each device is high.
At present Ground Support Equipment (GSE) of ground handling agent (GHA) Biman are operating only with 40 per cent of their capacity. Most of the equipment are decades old and remain inoperable most of the time. There has been no initiative to purchase new equipment.
This has led to a huge shortage of equipment to cater to all the airlines, particularly those operating wide body aircraft. Often only one high-lifter is provided to offload and load a B777 aircraft. Loading and unloading 22 tonnes of baggage and cargo thus take time. A high-lifter recently got stuck during a VIP flight.
Airline staff are to run and request for a single tow-in tractor and sometimes the request goes in vain because of the shortage. In absence of a modern system, baggage are literally thrown to the baggage belt.
Only two pushcarts are there to push at least 30 aircrafts in the evening from 7pm till 10pm, which is the peak period. Even an aircraft, which is ready for push back on time, still suffered delays as two push carts are running up and down to different aircraft and fail to maintain the schedule.
The minimum equipment that are in service are faulty and often go out of service when engaged in work, causing late departures. As such even VIP flights often fail to take off on time.
Aircraft cannot be parked in the remote bay as the GHA has only two steps. There is also acute shortage of AKE container and pallet dollies at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
Biman’s import section is unable to accommodate inbound cargo and most of which remain scattered on the ramp side under the open sky.
There is no space allocated to Biman by CAAB for the unit load device (ULD) storage for airlines operating international flights. ULDs are left in an open space and are damaged quite often.
The maintenance of ramp equipment is poor. Added to this, due to lack of ramp equipment, it takes excessive time to deliver the arrival baggage.
Lack of other facilities
There is inadequate number of wheelchairs at HSIA for transferring indisposed or physically challenged passengers. This slows down both disembarkation and embarkation from the aircraft, delaying both the process.
The mishandled baggage situation is awful. The baggages are left scattered in the arrival hall. Almost there is no support and the airlines are managing this critical sphere, neglected by GHA, with their own staff. The space for storage of such baggage is inadequate. Such baggages are often found missing or pilfered due to theft.
Missing baggage of a passenger or baggage that come to HSIA by mistake, are supposed to be dealt with Biman as the GHA. Here also the airlines have to do that job themselves. They themselves have to inform a passenger if the baggage arrives late by mistake.
Doctors are present in the terminal in shifts, but there is only one rudimentary bed and a stand to hang intravenous fluid bag. The condition of the lone ambulance is deplorable. The CAAB ambulance is reportedly not allowed to go out of the airport premises. “It should be allowed to go to the nearest hospital at nearby Uttara at least,” operators opined.
Regarding Immigration, the airlines ground staff opined that with the current manpower strength of Immigration is unable to cope the usual pressure of travelling passengers.
A suggestion
The operating airlines have suggested constructing a concourse on the other side of the airport, just as other airports have done, to improve the existing situation.
They think that as start of construction and completion of proposed Bangabandhu Interna-tional Airport, is a long way off, the construction of new concourse and procurement of required number of GSE equipment, will help improve passenger services at HSIA significantly.
At last
However, according to a report Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited (Biman) -under tremendous international pressure- is now seeking joint-venture partner to improve ground handling of both passengers and cargo. Biman has invited offers from well-established reputed foreign companies for joint venture in ground handling.
But it is too early to forecast fate of this latest initiative, as past experience in this regard is not happy. It may be recalled that, in the past, reputed organisations like DANATA and Singapore Airlines showed interest to form partnership with Biman in cargo and ground handling. The Bangladesh side ignored the offer and lost golden chances to modernise the system.
