Bacha Khan International Airport previously called Peshawar International Airport is an international airport located in the city of Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Located about a 10-minute drive from the centre of Peshawar, it is the fourth busiest airport in Pakistan. One unusual feature is that one end of the main runway is crossed by a railway line – the seldom-used Khyber train safari to Landi Kotal in the Khyber Pass. The airport was renamed on 27 January 2012 after Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (also known as Bacha Khan), a Pashtun nationalist political leader. Strategically situated in the heart of Peshawar, Bacha Khan International Airport is located approximately 180 km from Islamabad(federal capital of Pakistan) which makes it about two hours drive from the capital via the state-of-the-art M-1 motorway. The airport also has quite a rich history compared to other airports within Pakistan. Since Peshawar is the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, it provides world connections for the majority of the northwest region of the country and adjoining areas of Afghanistan. Since the province has a large Afghan Pashtun community residing within KPK, Afghanistan flights have always been on the rise with family either visiting relatives across the border or wanting to seek a better quality of life in Pakistan.
The airport traces its origins to 1927 when there was a small airfield that catered to much of the British Empire and aircraft that were either travelling onwards to the east (e.g. to China and Malaya/Singapore) or west (e.g. Europe and America). For this reason the city was given the nickname "Gateway to the East" because it linked the traditional oriental culture to modern occidental traditions. The airport only gained much importance after the independence of Pakistan from the British Raj. The Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAA) and the Pakistan Air Force started to use the airfield jointly for both military and civil operations. There were countless flights operated to and from Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, as well as other cities within the newly formed state.
The airport achieved international status in 1965 when the first flight was operated from Kabul, Afghanistan to Peshawar. The flight was operated by the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). As years went on the airport grew with more flights and aircraft and relative upgrade was carried out from time to time. It was not until 1981 that the CAA extended the terminal to meet future needs for the next decade and to meet the estimated growth of passengers. The apron was developed fully by 1986, where the airport was able to handle four wide body aircraft and two small narrow body aircraft at one time.
In January 2008 the provincial government meet to discuss the expansion work needed to upgrade the quality of the aircraft in terms of facilities, terminal modernisation and cargo growth.[3] In June 2008 the Deputy Director General of the CAA, Air Vice Marshal Sajid Habib, said that five billion rupees have been allocated to expand and develop Peshawar airport.
0 Comments