A nationwide strike by river transport workers has hit jet fuel supplies to Dhaka airport and begun disrupting flights, an airport official said on Wednesday.
The strike by riverboat crews has prevented supplies of jet fuel getting to the airport for nearly a week, the director of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Saidur Rahman, told AFP. Because of the fuel crunch we have told airlines that they can refuel at Chittagong (but not Dhaka). Two Saudi Airlines flights have been suspended due to the fuel crisis, he said.

Oil tankers operated by private Bangladeshi companies bring aviation fuel from the port city of Chittagong to Dhaka. Transporting the supplies by river is significantly cheaper than by road or rail. Rahman said he hoped the situation would improve today Thursday, when the airport expects fresh supplies to arrive by road. Hazrat Shahjalal is Bangladesh’s main airport and is used by more than two dozen airlines. afp