Turbat International Airport (

Balochi Balochi, sometimes spelt in various other ways, may refer to: * Balochi language, a language of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan * an adjective for something related to the Baloch people, an ethnic group of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan * an adjecti ...

: تُربت بالی پٹ ) is located at

Turbat Turbat is the second-largest city in Balochistan after Quetta and 38th largest city of Pakistan. It is the largest city in the southern part of the province. Education University: University of TurbatBalochistan University of Engineering & ...

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. It has the largest land area within the province of Balochistan. It is the second largest airport in Balochistan, after

Quetta International Airport Quetta International Airport (Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

and the surrounding areas of Pidarak, Karkiabdar and Kalatak.

History

Due to its geographical location, the airport has been only catering to the regional traffic it receives from its local city, Turbat, as well as the surrounding towns and villages. The airport started out in the 1970s, when the CAA of Pakistan constructed a runway and an apron to handle small turboprop aircraft. A year later,

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 ...

launched flights to the airport using

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 ...

aircraft. Due to lack of flights, PIA carried out their own handling at the airport and obtained responsibility of handling the airport operations. PIAC offices were inaugurated and allowed the airline to carry out the tasks at the airport. In 1979, the airport underwent a radical make-over that resulted in a re-carpeted runway as well as apron. A lounge for domestic arrival and departures was constructed in 1980. In 1983, a briefing area was constructed to allow family members of passengers seeing off their relatives, as well as an air traffic control building. The main road to the airport was re-developed and constructed to meet international standards by 1984. The

Pakistan State Oil Pakistan State Oil (); reporting name: PSO) is a Karachi-based Pakistani state-owned petroleum corporation involved in marketing and distribution of petroleum products. It has a network of 3,689 petroleum filling stations, out of which 3500 out ...

decided to provide aviation fuel to flights handled at the airport and built their own facility in 1994. The CAA of Pakistan decided to re-develop the airport in 2000, which housed the CAA administration office as well as a new ATC building. In 2003, a new arrivals lounge was constructed as well as a CIP premium lounge. A DVLS room was constructed in 2005. Custom and immigration facilities were upgraded in the same year. In 2008 a new office building for airlines and airport operational staff were inaugurated. The local government and the CAA have reported to be upgrading the airport to meet international standards in 2009 with new lounges, control tower and more apron space to handle more flights. Until very recently

was the only airline operating from the airport, however

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

-based carrier Orbit Aviation has obtained clearance from the

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) ( ur, ) is a state-owned autonomous body under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation, which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in Paki ...

to start twice weekly flights between Sharjah and Turbat via

Gwadar Gwadar ( Balochi/ ur, ) is a port city with located on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, Pakistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea opposite Oman. Gwadar is the 100th largest city of Pakistan, according to the 2017 ...

. The company has yet to begin flights, although facilities and permissions are already in place for it to do so.

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 ...

has also announced that it intends to start flying to Turbat in the future after it started regular flights to Gwadar. The national carrier also launched operations to the capital of Oman,

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...

in 2008 & Sharjah U.A.E

Structure

Since the airport mainly caters to meet the need for local travellers and tourist passengers, it is regarded ideal to meet the number of flights and operations it has forecast for the future. However, with air travel on the rise, more is being invested at the airport to meet future needs. A new departure lounge was constructed and has been operational since 25 December 2012. *Runway **6,000 ft runway with dimensions 1829 m by 30 m *Apron **For passenger and cargo, 91 m by 69 m area. **Combination of flexible and rigid pavements made of

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

. **Nose-in parking for 2 narrow-bodied aircraft such as

ATR ATR may refer to: Medicine * Acute transfusion reaction * Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair Science and mathematics * Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...

/ F-27 at a time. *Lounge **One domestic and international lounge each. **Snack bar/tea shop available. **Facility of restaurant of cooked meals (curry with roti, cold drink, and dessert) available 1.8 kilometres from terminal building. Transport is easily available *Additional **No aircraft maintenance facility at the moment. **Fire Category at level CAT-4, Ambulance-01, Oshkosh(Striker)-01, Water Bowser-02. **A viewing

verandah A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

for enthusiasts, visitors, and various likely persons. **Facility for offering

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

available. ** Habib Bank ATM located at a distance of 5 kilometres, linked to

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

and Mastercard, China

UnionPay UnionPay (), also known as China UnionPay () or by its abbreviation, CUP or UPI internationally, is a Chinese state-owned financial services corporation headquartered in Shanghai, China. It provides bank card services and a major card scheme ...

, and to the domestic 1LINK,

MNET M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

and PayPak switches. IBFT (Interbank Funds Transfer) facility is also provided at this ATM. This HBL ATM is attached to an HBL branch which also exchanges foreign currency, initiates

SWIFT Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

and FEDWIRE transfers, and does RAAST real-time money transfer transactions. ** Recently terminal building extended as passenger flow extended.

Airlines and destinations

Events

PIA Flight 544 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 544, a Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27, was hijacked on 25 May 1998, shortly after it took off from Gwadar International Airport, by three armed men belonging to Baloch Students Organization. T ...

carrying 30 passengers on a Fokker F-27 originated at the airport bound for

. Mid-flight the aircraft was taken over by Baloch

militants The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

. The aircraft landed at

Hyderabad Airport Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) is an international airport that serves Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state of Telangana. It is located in Shamshabad, about south of Hyderabad and it was opened on 23 March 2008 to replace B ...

where commandos overtook the aircraft.

References

External links