An airport is like a mirror of a nation, where the image it reflects says a lot about the country to the citizens of the world. After being harassed and traumatised by the snail-paced efficiency of the second terminal, our new third terminal at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is a facelift we badly needed.

The architecture of the terminal focuses on volume and minimal ornamentation with the use of modern amenities. The structure goes with established architectural styles of recent times. Celebrated architect, Rohani Baharin, who played a leading role in the development of Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3, designed HSIA's third terminal, with construction undertaken by Mitsubishi and Fujita of Japan and Samsung of Korea.

Photo: Rashed Shumon, Naimur Rahman

Every day, while commuting from Uttara to Farmgate, I saw how high-paced the construction work was being done. The contemporary terminal, with its three-storied terminal building, is being constructed with a floor space of 230,000 sqm.

The terminal's working space lengthwise is over 750 metres with 115 check-in counters, 64 departure and 64 arrival immigration desks, 27 hold baggage X-ray screener machines, 11 body scanners, 25 central departure security screening, 16 conveyor luggage belts for arrivals, 8 departure carousal belts, 12 boarding bridges, and 4 travelators.

What is really impressive about this mega-project, it addresses the callous woes of our current air travel. There are stories of waiting hours to get the luggage in both the domestic and international terminals. Among the troubles we faced with terminal 2, the faulty parking facility and connectedness to the town side were the worst.

Photo: Rashed Shumon, Naimur Rahman

After that painful luggage wait, you needed to lose another 45-minute for your car to come to the arrival parking lot or to avail of a reliable taxi service. Then of course road traffic, considering all the time wasted, it takes you much longer to reach home than your actual flight travel hour to arrive in Dhaka.

Hopefully, with the construction of this new terminal, all these will be addressed. The third terminal can accommodate 1,230 vehicles at any given time in its multi-storied car park. There is also an access tunnel that links with the First Dhaka Elevated Expressway and with Mass Rapid Transit; there is a network of roads to connect terminal-3 with the adjacent Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway.

For me, the main attraction of air travel is the duty-free shopping experience. Needless to say, terminal-2 neither had elaborate duty-free shopping areas nor a decent food court. However, terminal-3 is equipped with modern amenities and vouches to provide seamless operations and ensure the comfort of passengers with good food and a great shopping experience.

Photo: Rashed Shumon, Naimur Rahman

Also, the project, after its full implementation, is expected to significantly enhance the passenger service and cargo handling capacity of the airport.

Terminal-3 is scheduled to be fully operational by December 2024, after fine-tuning all the details needed to ensure a working international airport terminal.

I, along with millions of others, am in high spirits and waiting eagerly to see our aesthetically pleasing airport terminal run smoothly and bring us good fortune in regard to trade and uplifting the image of a country.