Airport type Public Elevation 579 m | Elevation AMSL 1,899 ft / 579 m Owner Government of Pakistan | |
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Operator Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan Serves Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan Location Fateh Jang, Punjab, Pakistan | ||
New Islamabad International Airport is an international airport under construction in Fateh Jang, Attock District planned to serve the Islamabad Rawalpindi metropolitan area. The airport is slated to open for commercial flights on August 14, 2017.
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The airport project was conceived initially in 1984 for which the acquisition of land in Attock started the same year. Build around 20 km west of the twin cities, it is being built to replace the existing Benazir Bhutto International Airport. After repeated delays, the new airport is expected to be become operational by August 14, 2017. The airport is connected to Islamabad via the Kashmir Highway and Rawalpindi via the GT Road. A six-lane highway is under construction to further expand the connectivity of the airport. The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus is planned to be expanded to connect New Islamabad International Airport with the metropolitan area.
Once completed it will be the first greenfield airport in Pakistan and the first to handle the Airbus A380. Built on an area of 3,289 acres, the airport has two runways and will cater to 10 million people every year in its first phase and up to 25 million in the second phase. The terminal includes 15 gates with ten remote gates, a four-star hotel, duty-free shops, food court and 42 immigration counters. Additional, CAA is planning to acquire over 2,800 acres of additional land to build a third runway at the airport.
History
The plan to construct a new airport for Islamabad was conceived in the late 1980s to deal with the problem of increased passenger load at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport. The current annual turnover of passengers at the current airport is about 4.7 million. It was estimated that the number of passengers at the airport is growing by 14 per cent annually compared to national air passenger growth rate of less than four per cent, making it the third busiest airport in the country.
Therefore, a site in Attock district was selected as the site for the construction of a new airport just a few kilometers from the Islamabad interchange on M1/M2 motorways. However, the project couldn't be started and was repeatedly postponed till 2005. The plan to construct a new airport was announced on 7 January 2005 by Civil Aviation Authority. The foundation stone of the project was laid by former President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on 7 April 2007. In 2011 Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani announced that a new airport will be constructed in the territory of Islamabad naming it the International Rawal Airport. The design for that airport was ready and the initial construction was started but however was stopped due to the suspension of the designated Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. After taking seat Nawaz Sharif has announced that the work on Rawal Airport will be started again in 2016 and will be fully functional till the end of his 5-year government.
The CAA asked a team of British architects to design the new airport. The airport is the first-ever green-field airport in Pakistan and would be built at a cost of $300 million. CAA signed an agreement with Louis Berger Group of USA in association with Pakistani consulting firm GT AASR, to undertake project management services. It is anticipated that the new facility will become operational by August 14, 2017. This airport will be the largest and most modern in Pakistan upon completion.
Project details
It is a joint project of Capital Development Authority (CDA), National Highway Authority (NHA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and designed by French company Aéroports de Paris Ingenierie (ADPi) and CPG Corporation of Singapore. It is being built on more than 3200 acres of land and consists of a passenger terminal building, 2 runways (28L/10R, 28R/10L), taxiways, apron and parking bays for wide-body aircraft. There will also be a cargo terminal, air traffic control complex, fuel farm, as well as a fire, crash, and rescue facility. It would be equipped to handle all types of aircraft including the new generation aircraft such as the Airbus A380, Boeing 747-8 and Airbus A350 XWB aircraft . The construction site of the airport is near the Rawalpindi-Fateh Jang Road near Fateh Jang, some 20 km from Zero Point, Islamabad and 23 km from Saddar, Rawalpindi. The airport is being developed to be at par with international standards to serve as a major hub for all aviation activities in Pakistan.
New Islamabad International Airport will have an 180,000m² modular terminal building which will initially be able to handle 9 million passengers and 80,000 metric tons cargo per annum. The numbers are expected to reach 15 million passengers by 2019 and increase to 25 million passengers by 2024. Being a new airport, a significant portion of the land has been earmarked for commercial purposes such as duty-free shops, hotel and convention center, air malls, business centre, food courts, leisure and recreational facilities.