Cox's Bazar (CXB): ten minutes from the beach, on a runway built into the sea
The rare airport that really is next to the resort. Transfers take minutes, the runway now reaches out over reclaimed sea, and the international terminal is still a building site.
- The airport is immediately beside the town and the resort strip. Most hotel transfers take 10 to 20 minutes, and some are a matter of minutes.
- Taxis and CNG rickshaws are the usual way, waiting outside the terminal.
- Agree the price with the driver before you set off. There is no meter culture here.
- There is no direct bus route and no rail or metro. Car hire is available, normally with a driver.
- One terminal handles domestic traffic. A new international terminal is under construction and not yet in use.
- The runway has been extended from 9,000 feet to 10,700 feet, part of it on land reclaimed from the Bay of Bengal. It is the first runway in Bangladesh to run out into the sea.
- That extension exists to take wide-body aircraft, which is what an international service needs.
- US-Bangla and Biman Bangladesh run the flights, essentially all domestic and mostly from Dhaka.
- Dhaka is about an hour in the air against a very long day by road. That is the whole case for flying here.
- This region floods and it is in the FCDO's flooding warning. Flash floods and landslides have affected Cox's Bazar.
The shortest airport transfer in this corpus
- The airport is in the immediate vicinity of the town and the resort zone. Hotel transfers take minutes rather than an hour.
- 10 to 20 minutes covers almost everything, traffic depending, and Cox's Bazar in high season does have traffic.
- Taxis and CNGs wait outside the terminal. Fix the fare first; there is no meter.
- No bus route serves the airport and there is no rail. Car hire with a driver is the alternative to a taxi.
- Many hotels will collect you and at these distances that is often free or nearly so, so ask when you book.
The runway in the sea
- The runway has been taken from 9,000 feet to 10,700 feet, widened to 200 feet, with part of the extension built on land reclaimed from the Bay of Bengal.
- It is the first runway in Bangladesh to extend into the sea, and the approach over water is the reason people photograph landings here.
- The point is not the view. A 10,700 foot runway takes wide-body aircraft, which is what a direct international service from the Gulf or Asia requires.
The international terminal, not yet
- A new terminal for international flights and wide-body aircraft is under construction.
- The airport is still functionally domestic. Until the terminal opens, an international arrival means Dhaka or Chittagong and a connection.
- Do not book on the assumption of a direct international flight here without checking it exists on the day.
The flights
- US-Bangla Airlines and Biman Bangladesh run the schedule, dominated by Dhaka.
- Dhaka to Cox's Bazar is about an hour in the air. By road it is a very long day on Bangladeshi highways, which is why the air route is busy and why the flights fill in the holidays.
- One terminal, one floor of it, with cafés, snack bars, shops, a VIP lounge, currency exchange, ATMs and a medical post.
The weather
- Cox's Bazar is named in the FCDO's flooding warning for Bangladesh, alongside the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet. Flash floods and landslides have affected the area.
- Monsoon runs through the middle of the year and the sea gets dangerous well before it looks it.
- Rip currents are the real hazard on the beach, and the longest natural sea beach in the world has very few lifeguards along it.
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