RAWALPINDI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is expected to inaugurate its new aircraft engineering hangar at the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) by the end of this month.

However, the new hangar is yet to be named.

According to sources, two names for the engineering hangar have been proposed. It will either be named after Air Marshal Nur Khan, former chairman PIA, or Asim Waqas, PIA engineer who lost his life in the Dec 7, 2016, ATR plane crash near Havelian.

The hangar will have the ability to accommodate ATR and Airbus A-320.

PIA chairman Air Marshal Arshad Malik has directed the authorities concerned to complete the hangar as soon as possible.

He has also said the most junior staff member of the airline would inaugurate the hangar.

In May 2018, the IIA was inaugurated by the then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. But the airport lacked the facility of an engineeringhangar.

The newly-built hangar is equipped with the most sophisticated machinery and other equipment to repair or maintain ATR passenger planes and Airbus A-320. In addition, executive jet aircraft will also be maintained at the hangar.

The engineering hangar at the old Benazir Bhutto International Airport lacked the facility of maintaining A-320 aircraft which was causing huge revenue losses to the airline because the airplane needing maintenance or overhauling had to be flown to the Jinnah International Airport Karachi.

Due to shifting of the airplanes to Karachi, the airline’s flight schedule got disturbed besides other operational problems. The airline authorities believe that after the opening of the engineering hangar, the flight schedule regulation will be better.

The engineering hangar at the IIA is expected to be opened on Nov 29 or 30.

When contacted, a PIA spokesman said Air Marshal Malik wanted the engineering hangar to be completed as soon as possible. It is expected that the hangar will be completed by the end of the current month, he added.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2018