RAWALPINDI: After many announcements, delays and re-announcements, the Islamabad International Airport was finally inaugurated by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday.

Built at a cost of Rs105 billion, the country’s largest airport is scheduled to welcome commercial flights from Thursday (tomorrow). The country’s first greenfield airport has been designed to cater to millions of passengers from all over the globe as Islamabad gets ready for increased commercial activity.

A greenfield construction project is one that is not constrained by existing infrastructure. The analogy refers to using unused land for building a new project from scratch.

The airstrip saw its first commercial touchdown on Tuesday when the Pakistan International Airlines’ flight PK-300 landed at around 11.15am. An hour after the successful landing, another PIA flight PK-301 took off for Karachi.

Prime Minister Abbasi arrived at the airport along with Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb and other senior officials in a helicopter amid tight security.

The inauguration of the airport had originally been scheduled for April 20. However, due to some operational issues the opening was postponed to May 1.

Islamabad scheduled to welcome commercial flights from tomorrow

The plan to construct a new airport in Islamabad had been conceived about 35 years ago.

The Y-shaped airport is located 20 kilometres from Zero Point, Islamabad, and over 25km from Saddar, Rawalpindi. The international-standard design allows the facility to host nine million passengers in the first phase, and about 25m after planned expansions.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Abbasi said he was grateful to Adviser to the PM on Aviation Sardar Mehtab Khan, former aviation secretary Irfan Elahi and officials of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for their hard work to complete the mega project.

“Nothing is impossible, but this [constructing the airport] seemed like it was,” he said. “But we have managed to complete this project as well.”

The prime minister said the country’s liberal open sky policy had been criticised, but the government believed in creating competition and giving passengers the freedom to choose. “Aviation is a challenging, dynamic field. It keeps changing rapidly and if we do not change ourselves, we are going to be left behind.”

He said the PIA had not adapted to the needs of the market and fallen behind its competitors despite having been a leader in its class in the past. With about 207 million people living in the country — representing a huge market — the PIA had less than 50 registered aircraft, he regretted.

Mr Abbasi said new development projects had the potential to catalyse economic growth, and that the new airport was a result of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s dedication to improve infrastructure of the country — leading to a stronger economy. He said the new airport would open a world of new opportunities, create employment and boost the private sector.

The prime minister recounted the achievements of the PML-N government and said that apart from adding 1,700km to the motorway network, several thousand kilometres were being added to other road networks across the country connecting millions of people, and the Gwadar port as well as special economic zones had been made operational.

Despite reports of loadshedding across the country, he said the government had added 10,400MW of electricity to the national grid and the gap between supply and demand had been bridged.

Mr Abbasi said airports at Multan and Faisalabad had been inaugurated this year, while Peshawar and Quetta airports were near completion. The airport at Gwadar, he added, was in its design phase, while the one in Sialkot was a testament to the success of the private sector that had not only developed it but was also improving it.

He said the IIA would not only serve the capital but also cater to Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He asked the CAA to address all teething problems that may come up in the early stages. He also asked the departments and ministries concerned to ensure that public transportation was easily available for all staff and passengers using the airport.

In addition to a huge parking area that can accommodate 2,200 cars, the airport also has a 50-bed trauma centre, a cinema, restaurants, several lounges and a duty-free shop. It is the only airport in the country that can accommodate two Airbus A-380 aircraft — the largest passenger airliner in the world — multiple conveyer belts, a fire station and modern rescue facilities.

Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Advisor to the PM on Aviation Sardar Mehtab, governors of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, parliamentarians and diplomats attended the inauguration ceremony.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2018