IFALPA Asia Pacific Regional Meeting begins today in Dhaka
The four-day long Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Association, hosted by Bangladesh Airline Pilots’ Association, begins today at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka.
The meeting taking place for the fourth time in Bangladesh has been kicked off by M Mahbub Ali, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism as the chief guest through an opening ceremony held in the morning.
Speaking on the occasion, M Mahbub Ali, State Minister, Civil Aviation and Tourism mentioned flight operation as a highly technical profession and urged the aviation stakeholders to ensure safety of flights in order to reduce aviation accidents.
“The government is taking many initiatives to develop the aviation industry of the country.” These include establishing the Third Terminal at HSIA and infrastructure development of other airports, the State Minister further informed.
Capt Jack Netskar, President and Capt Ishtiaque Hossain, Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific from IFALPA were also present on the occasion among other high officials of Biman, CAAB and private airlines of Bangladesh.
About the meeting’s impact, Capt Jack Netskar said, “IFALPA is the only global institute of pilots which responsibly carries on tackling aviation challenges. This explains how much importance such meetings hold, to discuss aviation issues of the region and address them later at the following conference of ICAO with recommended solutions.”
About 55 representatives from 19 countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, SriLanka, Thailand and USA is attending the meeting.
Air Marshal (retd) Enamul Bari, Chairman, Biman Board of Directors and Air Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, Chairman, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh spoke at the ceremony as the special guests while Capt Mahbubur Rahman, President of BAPA welcomed the participants and guests.
After concluding the official opening ceremony, IFALPA started a day long international safety seminar featuring presentations from CAAB, AAIG-BD, Biman, IFATCA, IFALPA, COMAC and pilots from various countries.
The first day of the meeting is going to end with a formal dinner hosted by the national carrier Biman.
BAPA is also going to celebrate its Golden Jubilee at InterContinental Hotel on November 5, arranged in conjunction with IFALPA Asia Pacific Regional Meeting 2019.
The Bangladesh Monitor, a premier travel trade fortnightly is the Media Partner of the event.
