ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday inaugurated country’s biggest and first greenfield airport, Islamabad International Airport, following years of delay.

The flight operations at the airport, however, will commence on Thursday, replacing the old Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) in Rawalpindi.

Country’s largest international airport, in terms of landing and passenger handling facilities, is designed to facilitate 15 million passengers annually in the initial phase which would increase to 25 million after its expansion. This is a major improvement as compared to the 4.7 million traffic record of BBIA in 2017.

Constructed at a cost of more than Rs100 billion, the Y-shaped airport is located 30km from the heart of Islamabad’s business centre Blue Area. The country’s most modern airport boasts state-of-the-art equipment and will be country’s first airport to accommodate two double-deck Airbus A380s, the world’s largest aeroplane.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, PM Abbasi said that he hoped the new airport was the epitome of development in the country and would enhance trade and employment opportunities for the people of the region.

“Aviation is close to my heart personally,” said Abbasi, who is associated with a private airline in the country. Lauding the efforts of Adviser to the PM on Aviation Sardar Mehtab Sardar Mehtab, Air Marshal Salam, Irfan Illahi and other officials, he said: “Aviation is a challenging, dynamic field. It keeps changing rapidly and if we don’t change ourselves we will be left behind.”

Shortly after its inauguration, the airport welcomed its first flight as a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-300 landed at the new airport at 11:15am. The president and CEO of PIA, Mushrraf Rasool Cyan, accompanied the passengers on the flight.

According to a Civil Aviation Authority official, later on, another flight of the PIA departed from the new airport for Karachi at 12:30 pm.

International carriers, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Thai Airways, China Airlines, Oman Air, Etihad Airways, Saudia, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Turkish Airlines, operate flights to and from Islamabad along with PIA, Shaheen Air, Serene Air and Air Blue.

Spanning over 4,238 acres of land, the new airport consists of two runways each 3.5km long, 28 aircraft parking aprons, 15 remote bays, a cargo apron for parking of three aircraft, main and emergency runways, taxiways, aircraft maintenance apron and parking bays for wide-body aircraft.

There would be 15 air-conditioned jetways out of which two have been specified for the wide-body aircraft A380. The current Islamabad airport had no boarding bridges and only a few immigration desks, which were insufficient for handling the influx of thousands of passengers.

The four-level terminal building also includes a cargo terminal, fuel farm, state-of-the-art firefighting station and rescue facilities. The airport consists of 90 check-in counters and a parking facility for 2,000 vehicles. Around 1,200 Airport Security Force personnel are expected to be deployed at 85 security towers to ensure safety.

The airport would also comprise of a four-star transit hotel, duty-free shops, food court, a mini-cinema and children’s play area to help ease long layovers, a 50-bed hospital, a golf course, three shopping malls, a convention centre and restaurants.

In his speech, the prime minister said the new airport with modern facilities reflects the economic development that has been taking place in the country during the last five years. “The new Islamabad airport is located at the crossroad of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and it will open a new gateway for the country’s development,” said the prime minister.

Abbasi added that the new airport will give a direction to other airports in the country in upgradation to provide quality services to passengers. Abbasi said the PML-N achieved in mere five years which was unprecedented in the past 65 years since country’s existence. He challenged all previous governments to come up with their projects and said none can barely come close to what the PML-N government has achieved.

He attributed the success of the project to a strong democracy, respect for the Constitution and determination of the govt in serving the masses. He said the country did not make any progress in the past as it deviated from the democratic system of governance. He said no country has ever achieved any success in the past without democracy and said the era of dictatorship has not given the country anything substantial.

“Pakistan can only progress if there is democracy, supremacy of constitution, parliament is supreme and institutions work within their ambit. There is no other way forward to progress and development,” he said.

He said similar development projects can strengthen the economy and bring about massive development. He said the present airport was the outcome of the policies of Nawaz Sharif. He said his government would have completed the new airport from scratch in only two years, but owing to the legacy of past it took a long time.

He mentioned the six percent growth and other positive economic indicators that spoke of the success of the policies of Nawaz Sharif. He said the new airport would open up a world of new opportunities and create new employment and boost the private sector.

He said Pakistan has the most liberal aviation policy with its open sky scheme. He said this policy has been criticised but the policy builds upon the fact that the passenger must have a choice. He said protectionism was not a solution and aviation must be open. He said rational regulation and not the protectionism were the solution.

Abbasi asked the CAA to look after the aviation in an open manner as it was very challenging and open field and there was a need to further improve it to encourage new local and foreign carriers. Otherwise, he warned, the country would be left far behind and cited the example of the national flag carrier. He said PIA did not rise to the market needs, the challenges and the opportunities and fell behind, despite being a leader in its class.

Abbasi urged the CAA to adapt to new requirements and allow the passengers to have a choice, provides rational regulation and which allows the aviation to grow.

He regretted that a country with 207 million population only has less than 50 modern aircraft registered and said there should be at least a thousand airliners registered. He said the aviation world was changing and today airlines need to be allowed to hub and go to their destinations.

He also asked the CAA to ensure that the issues that might crop up in the early phases of the new project be dealt with on priority. He said all new projects have issues that need to be addressed, to avoid inconvenience to the people and complaints.

He said the project would serve not only the Capital Islamabad, but also the people from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu Kashmir. He said with quality management and international standard services it would serve as an example for other airports.

He directed the Mayor and the concerned ministries to urgently ensure provision of quality public transport system for the passengers and the staff. The airport is around 30 kms from Zero Point Islamabad and the construction work on the Rawalpindi Islamabad Metro project is under process.

He hoped new airlines would be attracted to the new airport and the existing ones would increase their frequency of flights.