The construction of the third terminal at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport is going on amid the coronavirus pandemic. The piling work at the site is almost done. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

The runway at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport will be closed for eight hours every day for the next six months, starting on Thursday midnight.

The decision has been taken to facilitate the construction of a new high-speed taxiway for the third terminal during that time, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said.
This means that flights operations to and from the airport will be halted between 12 am and 8 am until Jun 10, 2022.
"Airlines have been informed of the matter. They have rescheduled their flights accordingly," said Group Captain Touhid-ul Ahsan, executive director of the Dhaka airport.
The lengthy closure of the runway at the country's main airport will require flight operations to speed up, according to stakeholders.

ATM Nazrul Islam, an adviser to the Bangladesh Aviation Owners Association, believes it would have been better for the work to have been conducted during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to bdnews24.com in November, he said, "Most of the international flights operate between 12 am and 8 am. It will be difficult to move these flights to a different time.
"The crowds at the airport will also increase. It is crowded as it is due to the extra screening requirements.”
However, the closure of the runway will not have a significant impact on early morning flights in December and January as the fog typically hampers take-offs and landings in winter, according to him.