News Analysis |
The long-awaited airport in Islamabad opened its doors to the public today (3rd May, 2018) with contradictory reports of it being a flawless spectacle and of mismanagement and overcrowding marring the happy occasion.
Pakistani journalist and writer Nasim Zehra took to Twitter and shared a picture of what appeared to be an overcrowded departure lounge at the new Islamabad International Airport and wrote that “mayhem” ruled the situation.
“Mayhem: Shocking situation at the Islamabad International departure area- several flights leaving close to each other – passengers packed like sardines- pushing and shoving and likely to miss flights. ‘Management’s explanation: Airport has to shut down so sending off all flights before 10 am,” Zehra wrote in her Tweet.
The exciting feature of the charging station is that each mobile phone is placed inside a separate box which can only be unlocked after fingerprint verification, virtually diminishing fears of theft.
On the other hand; some passengers and visitors seem to be in awe. The pictures shared by journalists and the government of Pakistan exhibit a beautiful massive structure and facilities like any other international destination. The opening of the airport was earlier set to be held on April 20 but it was postponed due to some technical glitches and security issues, Global Village Space earlier reported.
Read more: PM inaugurates New Islamabad International Airport after years of delay
In an official statement the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had announced that the airport will now be functional from May 03. Although the inauguration of the airport took place on May 1st, it started operations today, 3rd of May.
After a long time period of 11-years, the inauguration of Pakistan’s biggest airport [in the country in terms of landing and passenger handling facilities] had been waited upon eagerly, but the aviation secretary initially, without clearly spelling out the reason for the postponement, had confirmed that inauguration had been postponed till May 1st.
However, later, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) deputy director general Aamir Mahboob told the group of journalists visiting the newly constructed airport that “earlier, plan was to start international flights operation at the new airport from April 20, however, the date was changed due to the ongoing final tests at the site.”
The pictures shared by journalists and the government of Pakistan exhibit a beautiful massive structure and facilities like any other international destination.
He explained that “we were ready to start the operations from April 20th, but to avoid any inconvenience to passengers, advisor of Prime Minister (PM) on Aviation and Federal Secretary Aviation directed us to re-check all the provided facilities and re-examine all the operational procedure being provided before the formal inauguration.”
Read more: New Islamabad Airport should be named after Edhi: Hamza Ali Abbasi
The airport is one of Asia’s major aviation hubs and destinations. Islamabad International Airport is designed by French company Aéroports de Paris Ingenierie and CPG Corporation of Singapore.It is built on 4,238 acres of land and consists of 4-level passenger terminal building, 2 runways, taxiways, apron, parking bays for wide-body aircraft.
The airport is equipped with innovative facilities for passengers as exhibited in a video circulating on the social media which shows an official of the airport giving a hands-on demonstration of how to connect the cell phone with the charging pin at a kiosk (Charging station). The exciting feature of the charging station is that each mobile phone is placed inside a separate box which can only be unlocked after fingerprint verification, virtually diminishing fears of theft.
The complete facility has commenced operations from Thursday (today). All commercial and VIP flights from Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) have been shifted to the new airport.