ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has inaugurated the new state-of-the-art Islamabad International Airport. PK-300 was the only commercial flight that was landed at the new airport on the day of inauguration. The complete flight operations will be shifted to the new airport on 3rd May, 2018.
Additional Collector Air Freight Unit (AFU) Nisar Phularwan told Customs Today that first incoming flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was arrived from Karachi while first flight of the national airline was departed for Karachi on the same day. He said that the operations of regular national and international flights will be operational from 3rd May 2018.
Nisar told that the Islamabad Customs will begin its shifting from 2nd May 2018 (today) whereas AFU’s section like DTRE, Rebate and air traffic already shifted to NIIA. He told that remaining sections will be shifted within next two days, adding that other agencies are also speedily shifting their set-ups to the NIIA.
It is necessary to mention here that NIIA spans over an area of 4238 acres of land, and it is the first green field airport of the country. The airport is equipped with latest technology. NIIA has a passenger friendly terminal, two runways, three taxiways and a cargo apron which can accommodate large and small aircrafts. The airport has a modular design which enables it to handle nine million passengers and 50,000 metric tons of cargo initially, Nisar added.
At the inauguration ceremony, the Prime Minister was accompanied by Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Tariq Pasha, Chief Collector North Jawwad Awais Agha and Collector Islamabad Ch Zulfikar Ali.
Additional Collector said that International carriers, including Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Thai Airways, China Airlines, Oman Air, Etihad Airways, Saudi Airways, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Turkish Airlines will operate flights to and from Islamabad along with PIA, Shaheen Air and Airblue.
