The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has moved to ease the entry of foreign companies into the country’s airport ground handling sector by proposing to scrap the requirement for such firms to take on Bangladeshi partners holding at least 51 percent of the shares.

The proposed amendments to the Aviation Navigation Order (ANO) governing ground handling service providers would also remove the requirement that the chairman or managing director of a joint venture be a Bangladeshi citizen.

The order is being amended to pave the way for a foreign ground handling company to operate at the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, a CAAB official told Bonik Barta on condition of anonymity.

If a foreign firm is brought in as a second ground handler at the terminal, it would need to obtain a ground handling service provider (GHSP) licence in Bangladesh, the official said.

Under proposed section 13.2, any Bangladeshi, foreign or joint venture company with the legal authority to operate in Bangladesh may apply to the CAAB chairman for a GHSP licence.

The proposed section also sets out how the technical qualifications of a joint venture would be assessed. The technical competence of the partner with the larger shareholding would be treated as the technical qualification of the venture.

Proposed section 13.5 also explicitly covers wholly foreign-owned companies. Under the current order, where a foreign company is part of a joint venture, the foreign partner’s qualifications are treated as the GHSP’s minimum qualification. The proposed amendment refers to both wholly foreign-owned companies and joint ventures.

Employees recruited by foreign entities would still be required to hold valid work permits and complete the necessary government formalities. That condition has been retained in the proposed rules.

The amendments would also revise the scrutiny and inspection process for licence applications. Under the current rules, the ground handling oversight and evaluation committee appoints an inspection team comprising one member each from the airport, the air transport division and the air navigation services division. Other members may be added as needed. The team then reports its findings to the committee. If the report identifies any discrepancies, the committee may review them and, if necessary, order a further inspection.

The proposed amendment mainly reorganises those provisions, leaving the inspection team’s composition and core functions unchanged. It also proposes changes to the oversight and evaluation committee responsible for approving and renewing licences.

Repeated calls and text messages to CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal Md Mostafa Mahmood Siddiq yesterday went unanswered.