Quetta International Airport (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Balochi: کوئٹہ بالی پَٹ) ; is located at

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...

, the provincial capital of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

, Pakistan. The airport is the fourth highest airport in Pakistan (1605 metres above sea level). It is second largest airport in the south region of the country and the largest for the province of

. It is situated 12 km south-west of the city spread over an area of . Average scheduled flights were 1332, non-scheduled flights 247, and the total recorded passenger flow was 152,698 in 2007.

History

The airport is linked to local cities as well as central hubs domestically by several airlines. International services are at present carried out by the national flag carrier,

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

(PIA),

flydubai Flydubai ( ar, فلاي دبي), legally Dubai Aviation Corporation ( ar, مؤسسة دبي للطيران), is an Emirati government-owned low-cost airline in Dubai, United Arab Emirates with its head office and flight operations in Terminal 2 ...

, and

Air Arabia Air Arabia ( ar, العربية للطيران ''al-ʿArabiyya Lit-Ṭayarān'') is an Emirati low-cost airline with its head office in the A1 Building Sharjah Freight Center, Sharjah International Airport, UAE. The airline operates scheduled se ...

, although the city has also been served by regional carriers like

Iran Aseman Airlines Iran Aseman Airlines ( fa, هواپیمایی آسمان, Havâpeymâyi-ye Âsemân) is the third-largest Iranian airline headquartered in Tehran. It operates scheduled domestic passenger services and regional international services. History ...

and

Ariana Afghan Airlines Ariana Afghan Airlines Co. Ltd. ( ps, د آريانا افغان هوايي شرکت; prs, هواپیمایی آریانا), also known simply as Ariana, is the flag carrier and largest airline of Afghanistan. Founded in 1955, Ariana is the olde ...

in the past. The airport like many airports in pre-independence days were mainly a small airstrip offering air operations on behalf of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. After independence, the national flag carrier of Pakistan launched Karachi-Quetta-Lahore flights in 1954. This led to the development of a new runway that was constructed by a French company in 1958.

Fokker F-27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

flights initiated in 1964. This meant a new apron had to be constructed to deal with this larger turboprop aircraft in 1968. Due to the growth of the airport and number of passengers travelling through it, PIA launched

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

flights from the airport in 1972. The first international flight was launched in 1977. The revenue the airport generated allowed the construction of the terminal building in 1982. A new control tower was built between 1982 and 1983.

Navigational aids Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

Precision Approach Path Indicators and Doppler Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (DVOR) were installed in 1984. The main concourse hall was inaugurated in 2001 to accommodate a great influx of passengers and families that came to see off their relatives.

Airblue Airblue Limited (stylized as airblue) is a private Pakistani airline with its head office on the 12th floor of the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) Towers in Islamabad, Pakistan. Airblue operates scheduled domestic and international flights, the ...

and

Shaheen Air International Shaheen Air International ( ur, ) was a private Pakistani airline with its head office at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi and was founded by the Shehbai family. It remained Pakistan's second-largest airline until its liquidation in 201 ...

operated flights from Quetta, however due to more lucrative opportunities decided to withdraw.

Structure

Quetta International Airport is the fourth highest airport as well as the largest airport in province of

. The airport is currently under evaluation to being upgraded to make it compatible with future needs of the geographical location. The CAA is currently working with provincial government to develop the airport to meet international standards. The terminal building consists of the concourse hall, briefing hall, Domestic and International arrival and two lounges on first floor for domestic and international departures. The aerodrome category for fire fighting is CAT 8. It has annual capacity of 250,000 passengers and growing. The airport has several facilities to handle the normal needs of passengers such as telephone calling (domestic/international) booths, money exchange facilities,

automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fun ...

s, Internet stations (powered by Wateen), information counters, gifts and souvenir shops, snack shops, rent a car services, as well as a post office. At present, the following technical features are available at the airport. In 2007, the CAA of Pakistan allocated a Rs 270m budget for the upgrading work on the airport.http://www.daily.pk/component/content/article/888-caa-pakistan-allocates-rs-270-million-for-quetta-airport.html *Lounges **Two lounges each for domestic and international operations **One CIP Premium Lounge for premium passengers or VIP diplomats *Apron **Aircraft parking capacity is available for two wide body aircraft such as an A300 and three narrow body or prop aircraft such as

Fokker Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...

Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a ...

at one time. *Runway ** runway with the ability to handle a weight of one wide-body aircraft such as the A-300. *Additional ** Shell Aviation Ltd carry out the re-fuelling of aircraft under an exclusive licence. **New taxiways have been fully constructed and the tarmac reinforced to handle larger aircraft. **Aircraft maintenance is very low at this airport, as it is not a hub for any air carrier. **Heated Storage, Livestock Handling, and Security for Valuables cargo can be handled at this airport.

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

* {{authority control Airports in Balochistan, Pakistan Quetta

History

Structure

Airlines and destinations

See also

References

External links