Islamabad: The newly constructed Islamabad International Airport (IIA) was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi — after going through its share of hiccups — on Tuesday.
The plan to construct a new airport in Islamabad had been conceived just under forty years ago in 1980 but work on the international-standard greenfield airport hit a number of snags and delays over the years.
The Y-shaped airport is located 20 kilometres from Zero Point Islamabad and over 25km from Saddar, Rawalpindi, and is set to be the largest airport in the country, designed to facilitate 15 million passengers annually in the first phase, which will increase to 25m after its expansion.
IIA today saw its first commercial touchdown with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-300 landing at the new airport at 11:15am.
According to PIA Spokesman Mashood Tajwar, the national flag carrier’s second commercial flight PK-301 will take off for Karachi at around 12:30pm.
Strict security measures were in place as PM Abbasi arrived at the airport along with other officials for the ceremony. The inauguration was initially supposed to take place on April 20 but it was delayed until May 3 due to certain technical problems and security issues.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Abbasi lauded the efforts of Sardar Mehtab, Irfan Illahi and Air Marshal Salam and other officials for their efforts to complete the airport project.
“Nothing is impossible, but this [constructing this airport] seemed like it was,” the prime minister said. “But we have managed to complete this project as well.”
He further said that although Pakistan’s “liberal, open sky scheme” has been criticised, the policy has been kept in place because the government believes that the “passengers should have choices”.
“Aviation is a challenging, dynamic field. It keeps changing rapidly and if we don’t change ourselves we will be left behind,” he stressed.
“It is very easy to criticise and hurl accusations,” he said, adding that those in government have to deal with challenges unknown to critics.
Full flight operations will be shifted to the new airport on May 3. All commercial and VIP flights from Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) will be moved to the new airport.
International carriers, including Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Thai Airways, China Airlines, Oman Air, Etihad Airways, Saudi Airways, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Turkish Airlines, operate flights to and from Islamabad along with PIA, Shaheen Air and Air Blue.
Prior to the inauguration, the Pakistan Air Force had lent a hand to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for smooth and safe conduct of operations at the new airport.
Reaching a decision over a final name of the airport proved to be a major challenge for the authorities.
On April 20, former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, after hearing that an adviser to the prime minister has announced that Benazir Bhutto International Airport would be named Islamabad International Airport, in a letter urged the government to reconsider its decision and “withdraw this uncalled for and inappropriate decision”.
However, the official name of the airport had not been decided until last week after the prime minister rejected three names that had been proposed by Nawaz Sharif-constituted ministerial committee for Islamabad’s new airport.
