Islamabad International Airport () is the international airport serving

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

, the

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. It is located south-west of the city, and is accessed via Srinagar Highway. The airport commenced full operations in 6 May 2018, replacing the defunct

Benazir Bhutto International Airport Benazir Bhutto International Airport ( ur, , ) is a defunct airport which formerly served the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area. It was the second-largest airport by air traffic in Pakistan, until 3 May 2018 when it was replaced by the ...

which now forms part of the

PAF Base Nur Khan Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan (founded as RAF Station Chaklala and previously known as PAF Base Chaklala) is an active Pakistan Air Force airbase located in Chaklala, Rawalpindi, Punjab province, Pakistan. The former Benazir Bhutto Internati ...

. It is the largest cargo airport in Pakistan and also in terms of area and passenger capacity, capable of serving 9 million passengers yearly. Further expansions in the future will allow it to serve up to 25 million passengers yearly. It is the second busiest airport in Pakistan in terms of passenger traffic after

Jinnah International Airport Jinnah International Airport ( ur, جناح بین الاقوامی ہوائی اڈا) , formerly Drigh Road Airport or Karachi Civil Airport, is Pakistan's busiest international and domestic airport, and handled 7,267,582 passengers in 2017 ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

. The terminal includes 15 gates with ten remote gates, duty-free shops, a food court and 42 immigration counters. Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority is acquiring 2,833 acres (11.46 km² / 4.42 sq mi) of land to build a third runway. It is the first and only airport in Pakistan capable of handling the

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...

. A metrobus rapid transit service connects the airport with Islamabad and Rawalpindi, it was completed on 18 April 2022. Bus stop of the Islamabad Metro Service at Islamabad International

Bus stop of the Islamabad Metro Service at Islamabad International

History and details

New Islamabad International Airport front view

Construction of the Islamabad International Airport (ICAO: OPIS) began on 7 April 2007 and was inaugurated formally on 20 April 2018 for regular international and domestic flights. The plan to construct a new airport was announced in January 2005 by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority. A land of land was acquired at the cost of Rs 2.5 billion in November 2005. The new airport was planned in response to increasing air traffic and passenger loads at the existing

. It was estimated that the number of passengers at the former airport was growing by 14 percent annually compared to the national air passenger growth rate of 4 percent, making it the second busiest airport in the country at the time. Therefore, a site in Ranjha,

Attock Attock ( Punjabi and Urdu: ), formerly known as Campbellpur (), is a historical city located in the north of Pakistan's Punjab Province, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 61st lar ...

district was selected as the site for the construction of a new airport just a few kilometers from the Islamabad interchange on M-1/ M-2 motorways. The foundation stone of the project was laid by former President

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on 7 April 2007. It was a project of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) and designed by French company Aéroports de Paris Ingenierie (ADPi) and

CPG Corporation CPG Corporation is an infrastructure, building management, and consultancy services company in the Asia Pacific. CPG Corporation is a part of the former Public Works Department of Singapore; the company provides architecture and engineering con ...

of Singapore. The whole project was financed by PCAA on its own. It is built on more than 3,200 acres of land and consists of a passenger terminal building, 2 runways, taxiways, and apron and parking bays for wide-body aircraft. There is also a cargo terminal, air traffic control complex, fuel farm, as well as a fire, crash, and rescue facility. The site of the airport is near Fateh Jang Tehsil of Attock District. It is 25 km equidistant from Zero Point,

and from Saddar, Rawalpindi. The airport is on par with international standards & serves as a major hub for all aviation activities in Pakistan. The PCAA asked a team of British architects to design the new airport. PCAA signed an agreement with the

Louis Berger Group Louis Berger (formerly known as Berger Group Holdings) is a full-service engineering, architecture, planning, environmental, program and construction management and economic development firm based in Morristown, New Jersey. Founded in 1953 in ...

in the US in association with Pakistani consulting firm GT AASR, to undertake project management services. The airport was to complete in 5 years but took 12 years to complete resulting in a 3 times increase in cost. On 1 May 2018, Prime Minister

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Shahid Khaqan Abbasi ( ur, ; born 27 December 1958) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 21st prime minister of Pakistan from August 2017 to May 2018. Abbasi is the senior vice president of the Pakiatan Muslim League ...

officially inaugurated the new airport. This was followed up with the airport commencing full commercial flight operations on 3 May 2018 and thus replacing the old airport. On 8 July 2018, the first

landed in Islamabad, arriving as Emirates flight EK-2524 from

Dubai International Airport Dubai International Airport ( ar, مطار دبي الدولي) is the primary international airport serving Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the world's busiest airport by international passenger traffic. It is also the nineteenth-busies ...

. This flight had no seats for sale but the first time an Airbus A380 landed in Pakistan.

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

has moved its international hub from Karachi's

to Islamabad International Airport, better reflecting the origin of its international passengers.

Facilities

Islamabad International Airport Domestic Departures

Islamabad International Airport Departure

Islamabad International Airport parking lot

Islamabad International Airport has a 180,000m² modular terminal building which is capable of handling 9 million passengers and 80,000 metric tons cargo per annum. The numbers are expected to reach 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 shop A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...

s, a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

and convention center, air malls, a business centre,

food courts A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. ...

, and

leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leisur ...

and cinema facilities.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Ground transport

The airport is connected to

via the Srinagar Highway and Rawalpindi via the

GT Road The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...

(Highway N-5). A four-lane highway is also under construction to serve

cargo traffic Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ext ...

References

Bibliography

Ground breaking ceremony of new Islamabad airport likely in April
''Business Recorder'' (Pakistan's Financial Daily Newspaper), 2005-03-03.

''Pakistan Link Headline News'', 2006-01-07.

''The News'' Business Section, 2006-01-07.
New Islamabad International Airport ready for ground breaking Ceremony
''PakTribune'', 2006-02-07.
The ground laying ceremony at Fateh Jang, Attock 2007
video at YouTube
Launched: Islamabad joins league of top airports

External links

Islamabad International Airport website
* * * {{authority control Islamabad Airports in Pakistan 2018 establishments in Pakistan Attock District Airports in Islamabad Airports in Punjab, Pakistan Transport in Rawalpindi