Menzies Aviation Plans $12M Investment and 1,000 Direct Jobs in Bangladesh if It Wins Dhaka Airport Ground-Handling Licence
Why It MattersThe bid reflects growing competition among global ground handlers to secure footholds at expanding South Asian airports as terminal capacity and cargo volumes increase.
Menzies Aviation has outlined a $12 million investment plan for Bangladesh, contingent on winning the second ground-handling licence at Dhaka's third terminal. Company executives presented the plan at a briefing in Dhaka, saying the funds would go primarily toward ground support equipment, technology and training.
John Henderson, senior vice-president for operations, Middle East and Asia, said Menzies expects to create more than 1,000 directly employed, well-paid jobs in its first year of operations. Charles Wyley, executive vice-president for Middle East, Africa and Asia, added that local supply requirements, including uniforms and other services, could generate a further 4,500 indirect jobs, with almost the entire workforce recruited locally and at most one or two international employees.
Positions would include check-in agents, baggage handlers, equipment operators, customer service staff, dispatchers and finance managers, with new recruits typically undergoing up to one month of training before deployment. Menzies also plans to establish a training academy at the airport and collaborate with universities and aviation schools, saying Bangladesh could eventually become a source of aviation workers for its overseas operations.
Menzies is competing for the licence through the third terminal operator consortium. Wyley said the expression-of-interest stage has been completed and a request for proposals issued to qualified companies, with four companies understood to have qualified and one or possibly two expected to be referred to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh for final licensing. Executives declined to discuss competitor pricing, saying bids are confidential, but said Menzies would compete on value for money, safety, service quality and operational performance.
On baggage handling, Menzies said its international standard is to deliver the first bag from a wide-body aircraft within 10 to 15 minutes and the last bag within 40 minutes, with the third terminal's automated infrastructure expected to enable real-time monitoring from aircraft to arrival belt. Menzies also identified opportunities in Bangladesh's air cargo sector, particularly for garment exports, saying the ground handler would be responsible for moving freight from the warehouse to aircraft even where another operator manages the warehouse.
Menzies traces its origins to Scotland in 1833 and entered aviation in the 1990s, and currently operates at 350 airports in 65 countries with more than 65,000 employees worldwide. The British High Commission in Dhaka expressed confidence in the Menzies proposal.
