A small yet significant news caught my attention the other day. On November 30, 2007, Sialkot International Airport got its inaugural commercial flight. Pakistan thus adds one more feather in its infrastructure development. The IATA designation of this airport is SKT. It is now the 45th public airport/air strip in Pakistan. There was an inaugural Boeing 737, PIA flight from Karachi the same day, which landed at Sialkot International Airport with 118 passengers. Currently the only flights available to and from Sialkot are from Karachi but very soon Sialkot will get direct overseas flights.
Sialkot International Airport has been built by the local business community on a “self-help basis†at a cost of US $33 million. Sialkot is very fortunate in a sense that local business community plays a vital role in its development. To build, own and operate this airport a company was established in 2001. It is called the Sialkot International Airport Limited (SIAL).
SIAL is a company with 223 directors, each of which has invested Rs 5m of capital in the project as the primary investment. Each of the directors was invited to take part in the project because of their previous experience of running sizeable and successful enterprises.
In order to construct the new airport SIAL contracted NESPAK to develop the master plan and after much deliberation and consultation over two years a fully integrated plan was finalised and approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Sialkot International Airport is located 14 km west of Sialkot and is spread over an area of 1050 acres. It also has the longest commercial runway in Pakistan. The runway length is 3.6 km and width is 45m with 7.5m wide shoulders on either side. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has graded this runway as 4E.
The Link Taxiway is 263-meter long, 23-meter wide with 10.5-meter shoulders. The apron covers an area of 45000 sq meters and the airport can nose-in park four Boeing 747s simultaneously.
The construction of the airport was approved in 2001, the construction work started in January 2003 and on March 26, 2005 the first ever plane landed here.
Following image shows convenient road distances from different cities which are projected to benefit from Sialkot International Airport.
10 km west of the airport flows river Chenab and currently there is a bridge called Shahbazpur Bridge under construction there. Once completed, the bridge will reduce the distance between the cities located at either side of the river. It will provide an easy access to the whole region including Sialkot International Airport, Sambrial Dry Port, Export Processing Zone Sialkot and the industries of Sialkot. It will help the airport to become a gateway for the people of Gujrat, Kharian, Lalamusa, Jhelum and Azad Kashmir. The work on this bridge started in 2005 and is expected to be ready in 2008.
Once the overseas flights start from Sialkot, it will become Pakistan’s 9th International airport. Current International Airports of Pakistan are:
1. Jinnah International Airport Karachi (KHI),
2. Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore (LHE),
3. Islamabad International Airport (ISB),
4. Peshawar International Airport (PEW),
5. Quetta International Airport (QET),
6. Shaikh Zayed International Airport Rahimyar Khan (RYK),
7. Gwadar International Airport (GWD), and
8. Turbat International Airport (TUK).
References:
1. Sialkot International Airport Limited (SIAL)
2. NESPAK
Deewana Aik,
do you still believe its not true ?? read the whole post !
“Iqbal, our beloved, spiritual Allama, was born there and by the way so was I”.
Ali Khan you forgot Faiz Ahmad Faiz. Before Jammu was cut off from Punjab, Sialkot was on a major route to Siri Nagar & Kashmir. Sialkot has also been a city of choice as ‘base’ by the Western Christian missionaries. Now it is being connected with Lahore via an under construction motorway, and with Gujrat and onward via a new highway. Being tucked away in a corner of Pakistan, Sialkot is a very pleasant place to visit. Also being on the border with India it is also a major military base. I have very fond memories of family picnics at Marala Head on the banks of Chenab River. Try freshly caught fish, fried on the spot by the locals.
ali.mm.khan,
@Sialkot a sufi city ?? then an Islamic city, what deviation !
braderies distinctions etc etc
The merit sialkot has is being city of Hakeem-ul-Ummat.
I came to know about Sialkot when I heard Noor Jehan
singing “We mondya sialkotia, Teray mikharay da Kala
Kala till wey “, I was only 6 or 7 years as I did not speak
or understand Punjabi, had to ask translation from my
Abba jan’s good friend a “Puri the Sialkoti” after being
refused, had to ask our immidiate neighbour (Luckhnowi)
not knowing at all Punjabi, he told me that every
sialkoti is recognised by a ” till ” on his/ her face. Then for
whole one year I tried to pratice this research, believe me,
was not very pleasant !
ali m.m. khan:
Don’t praise Sialkot too much or Fauji Foundation would start thinking of taking over everything there:)
People of Sialkot are indeed commendable. They usually spend a lot on their community, which is hard to find in any other city of Pakistan. May be Chiniot Shaikh bradri comes close to them. Few years ago, the local traders of Sialkot donated expensive tilings to rehabilitate the Sialkot Railway Station. In return for this gesture PR started a new Sialkot-Rawalpindi train, which was also demanded by the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce.