Daily Times

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday unanimously agreed that the New International Islamabad Airport should also be named after late prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The PAC meeting, chaired by Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, discussed the name of the new Islamabad airport which was inaugurated in May last year.

All members of the PAC agreed to name the new airport after the assassinated leader in order to honour her memory, like the old airport of the twin cities.

“At PAC, when records of Islamabad Airport showed the original name of New Benazir Bhutto International Airport, all members across the political board endorsed our advice to revert to the right name of the airport. Government, please take note. Benazir Bhutto is Pakistan’s pride,” Pakistan People’s Party Senator Sherry Rehman Tweeted after the meeting.

The new Islamabad airport was inaugurated on May 1 in 2018, after months of delay. The new airport is located 30 kilometres away from central Islamabad and its construction work had started in April 2007.

The airport has a modular design which enables it to handle nine million passengers and 50,000 metric tonnes of cargo initially.

The Y shaped new airport spreads over 19 square kilometers with 15 jetties, including facilities to accommodate two double-deck A380, the world’s largest airplane, 15 remote bays and seven remote bays for small aircraft such as ATRs. It will be the biggest international airport in the country in terms of landing and passenger handling facilities.

Published in Daily Times, February 1^st 2019.