FAISALABAD:Upgradation of Faisalabad International Airport runway would be completed by February 28 to accommodate wide bodied and 777 aeroplanes from March this year, according to Airport Manager Anwar Zia.
In a meeting with President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Dr Khurram Tariq, he said that Faisalabad airport was non-existent on the world map of international air destinations in 2014-15. “We took bold initiative in collaboration with the FCCI to revive the airport and as a result of our efforts, weekly 120 flights were started,” he said and added that due to corona these numbers were squeezed to 80. However, it was encouraging that among them, 90 per cent flights were international. He said that the secondary runway has been upgraded with an estimated cost of Rs 6bn to accommodate the landing and take-off of wide-bodied aeroplanes. He was optimistic that Qatar and other international airlines would start their operation from March or April from this upgraded runway.
He said that many other airlines are also in touch with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and many new international routes are expected to start within the next couple of months. Quoting the meeting of FCCI delegation with prime minister on the issue of new airport, Anwar Zia said that a team of the CAA was here to facilitate the chamber. He requested President to finalise his proposal about new airport so that CAA and other departments concerned could take up this issue and extend technical assistance.
He requested the FCCI to complete the initial formalities so that he could revisit and examine it and fix the final line of action on March 10. Anwar Zia said that work on the air cargo terminal is also in the final stage and hopefully it would become operational by the month of March. He said that the VIP lounge of Faisalabad International Airport had also been refurbished and it would also be available to the business community.
Jaffar Abbas, additional director Estate CAA, Director Engineering Civil Armaghan Bilal, Arfan Mohiuddin and Saleem Raza also attended the meeting in addition to Senior Vice President Dr Sajjad Arshad, former SVP Zafar Sarwar, Mian Gulzar Ahmad, Muhammad Tayyab and Muhammad Asim.
President FCCI Dr Khurram Tariq said that various sites had been identified for the newly proposed civilian airport in view of its expansion towards Lahore. He said that Faisalabad’s geo-strategical located in the country was most suitable for a new airport. He said that the proposed site could also be easily linked with the rail and road network.