Offbeat: New airport handles 4.7m passengers in first year

Parallel taxi track closed due to wear and tear, reports have highlighted issues in the runway

RAWALPINDI: Over 4.7 million domestic and international passengers have used New Islamabad International Airport since it became operational a year ago.

At least Rs105 billion was spent on Pakistan’s biggest state-of-the-art greenfield airport. The cost covered everything from the latest security scanners to the truck art decorating the terminal building.

Some 132,000 plants were also sown to give the environment a green look, while additional 250,000 plants will also be sown around the airport as part of the Clean and Green Pakistan campaign.

The 4,238-acre airport’s planned capacity if for nine million passengers and 50,000 metric tonnes of cargo per year. A park for children, a food court for visitors, and a 50-bed trauma centre have also been set up to cope up with emergency situations. It is roughly 30 kilometres from the city centres of both, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Aircraft operations utilize the four-storey terminal building, two runways, six taxi links, three rapid taxiways, five aprons, a cargo apron, and a special parking bay for wide-body aircraft including the massive Airbus A380.

There is also a separate terminal for cargo, the air traffic control complex, and refuelling facilities.

There are 70 check-in counters and 32 domestic lounges. There are multiple first class and business class lounges in the international and domestic departure areas.

There are 33 parking base in total, and 15 bridges at the airport, of which nine are for international flights while six are for domestic flights.

The parking lots have a total capacity of 2,200 cars

The airport also has its own 282-acre dam called Rama Dam, the current capacity of which is 2,122-acre feet. Construction work on the 700-acre Kisana Dam is also under way.

Similarly, a water treatment plant and sanitation plants have also been installed.

Problematic history

The airport was originally planned to cost Rs37 billion in its original PC-1, but this escalated to Rs81.1 billion in the revised 2014 PC-1, and eventually Rs105 billion when all work was completed. Announcements were made of private bus services from Koral and Rawat and extension of the metro bus line from Islamabad for staff, visitors, and passengers. But no local bus service, despite a tender being floated, has become operational. Similarly, work on the infrastructure of the metro bus service is still working at the airport must use their own transport if their employers don’t offer conveyance.

Meanwhile, two employees were injured a few months back after an airbridge collapsed.

Cracks on the customs air freight cargo building led to the shifting of the unit to an alternate building. Incidents of roof leaking and part of the ceiling falling apart in the rain have also been reported.

Despite the presence of joint search counters of customs, ANF, and ASF, reports of bribery, including some with video evidence, have also surfaced.

Similarly, the parallel taxi track was recently closed due to wear and tear. Earlier reports had highlighted issues in the runway construction.

Owing to the lack of affordable transport to get to the airport, people from Jhelum, Gujarat and several other areas have also begun taking flights from other nearby cities.

Aviation Division Secretary and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Director-General Shahrukh Nusrat told Express that the airport is at par with international standards. “With the introduction of new projects, minor issues surface,” he said, adding that the same is the case here. They are being rectified and improved with strenuous efforts, he said.

“It is Pakistan’s airport and we Pakistanis will make it a success with improvements.” We are also running Prime Minister’s Clean and Green Pakistan’s vision concurrently, he added.

The aviation division secretary said that the number of passengers is increasing at the airport and turning it into a regional hub. He said the CAA and Aviation Division officers monitor the airport, noting that while there were some complaints initially, these have greatly reduced. He explained that while there is only one primary runway at the airport, they are holding talks with engineers on how to turn the parallel taxi track into a usable runway. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2019.