Broken promises: Substandard airports hindering tourism in G-B

PM Gilani's promise to upgrade the airports of Gilgit and Skardu remains unfulfilled

GILGIT: Prime Minister (PM) Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani made a promise back in 2009 to upgrade the airports of Gilgit and Skardu and bring them at par with international standards.

Fifteen months later, locals have begun to think that the promise, made prior to the general elections in October 2009, was nothing more than electioneering by PM Gilani.

Gilgit Airport is located on the edge of a slope and has a one-kilometre-long runway. The strip is too short for most mid-sized aircraft including Boeing 737s and the Airbus A320 family to take-off and land on. While Skardu Airport is comparatively larger, it also lacks the facilities of an international-level airport.

Since the grounding of Fokker aircraft in 2006, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) operates two daily flights using French-Italian ATR 42 turboprop aircraft between Gilgit and Islamabad. Each flight can accommodate around 40 passengers. C-130 aircraft are also employed by PIA to make sorties to this mountainous region.

The prime minister’s promised upgrades would have included construction of a new terminal, more car parks, new runways and installation of a modern landing system.

The only other way to access the region at the moment is a 24-hour journey through Karakoram Highway connecting Islamabad to Gilgit.

Experts believe that if Gilgit and Skardu airports are brought up to international standards, tourism in the region would flourish.

Gilgit is one of the two major hubs for all mountaineering expeditions in the region, and a gateway to three of the world’s mightiest mountain ranges, the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2011.