Peshawar airport ranked third worst in Asia

PESHAWAR: The Bacha Khan International Airport in the city has been ranked the third worst airport in Asia.

The travel website, The Guide to Sleeping in Airports, made the yearly ranking list based on the overall facilities provided to passengers. It is the first time the airport in Peshawar has made it to this list.

Named after freedom-fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, commonly known as Bacha Khan, the airport in Peshawar is a busy place due to many domestic and international flights. However, it is a crowded place and its expansion plans have been painfully slow. The security concerns at the airport have made the situation worse as the passengers are made to wait in long queues and entering and exiting the airport is always a challenge.

The travel website that listed the Bacha Khan International Airport as the third worse in Asia had this to say about it: “Criticized for being packed with passengers and devoid of organization, this terminal is said to be more like a poorly run bus terminal more than anything else. Many of the services here, like the issuing of boarding cards, are done manually - which exacerbates already-long line-ups. And worse still, crowd control is non-existent meaning you spend an awful lot of time vying for a spot in the alleged line.”

Topping the list of the worst airports in Asia is Uzbekistan’s Tashkent International Airport, followed by Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport. In fourth place after Peshawar airport is the Hamid Karzai International Airport Kabul.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines has been ranked the fifth worst airport in Asia. The Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad despite improvements made last year has been ranked the sixth in terms of its poor services. India’s Chennai International Airport, China’s Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Bangladesh’s Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka and Cambodia’s Siem Reap International Airport.