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Expanded airport ends agonies of passengers

By Bureau report
May 24, 2018

PESHAWAR: The agonies of the passengers are over as the expanded and renovated Bacha Khan International Airport, Peshawar, was opened on Wednesday.

Prime Minster Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the expansion of the airport (Phase-I) here.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Advisor to Prime Minster on Aviation Mehtab Ahmad Khan, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abassi, other officials of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and a large number of people were also present.

Mehtab Ahmad Khan said that the Peshawar airport was the fourth largest facility in the country, adding 1.5 million people used the facility for travel purposes annually.

Sharing the details and features of the expansion work on the airport, Director Planning and Development CCA Nadir Shafi Dar said the expansion work was launched in January 2016 at an initial cost of Rs1.80 billion.

He said it was a three years project. He said the airport lacked various facilities for passengers and staff and needed immediate expansion.

The official said the lounges expanded to provide more facilities and improve the existing ones at the airport.

The project was revised to include some more facilities, he said, adding, the project was further expanded and the cost increased to Rs2.90 billion from the initial Rs1.80 billion.

He added that under the project elevators and escalators were installed, lounges for both domestic and international passengers expanded, more checking counters for international passengers and immigration counters were set up.

The official said that previously there were only eight checking counters for international passengers but now these have been increased to 20. He said the airport can now manage three international flights at a time.

The official said the capacity of the lounges for international passengers had been increased from 200 to 800, adding the capacity of the lounges for domestic passengers had also been increased from 90 to 200.

He said the capacity for VIPs at the lounges for international passengers had been increased from 40 to 80.

Nadir Shafi Dar said two passenger boarding bridges were installed at the airport, adding one could be set up in future as well.

He said that three-storey parking plaza would be constructed at the airport, adding the land had been acquired to relocate the camp of the Airport Security Force (ASF) from the facility as well.