TOBA TEK SINGH: The new runway will be completed by October this year, enabling Boeing 777 to land at Faisalabad International Airport.

This was stated by airport manager Muhammad Anwar Zia at a meeting with FCCI officials on Thursday.

He said the air cargo complex was also under construction and 75 per cent of the work would be completed before the runway becomes operational.

He expressed satisfaction over the available passenger load and air cargo and said the airport was in a deficit of Rs220 million when he was posted here.

“It is now earning a profit of Rs2 billion,” he said and added that presently 102 domestic and international flights are operating from this airport facility in a month. He said that only small planes could land on the old runway, prompting authorities to construct a new runway.

He said a study was conducted to evaluate the passenger load before contacting international airlines. At that time the available passenger load was only 70,000 which jumped to 500,000 and is now expected to cross the mark of 800,000 within the next few years. He said that in a similar pattern, we must calculate the available tonnage of air cargo so that the airlines could be convinced to launch a dedicated air cargo service from this port.

He asked the FCCI to share data on air cargo so that a comprehensive study could be finalised. Four planes can be parked at a time and more facilities will also be arranged after calculating the passengers and air cargo shipments, he said.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2022