Pakistan to enhance regional air connectivity

Pakistani government is working on a comprehensive plan to reopen the closed airports to utilize them on commercial basis.

According to a detailed report published in The Express Tribune, a government working paper suggests to promote regional connectivity, reopening the closed airports and reinvigorating Pakistan Airways, a subsidiary of the PIA.

The objective of this project is to make air travel accessible to all Pakistanis, besides repurposing the civil aviation assets worth billions of dollars, including airports that are lying idle. This includes creating employment opportunities and enhancing technic
al capabilities by connecting local people to the aviation industry.

 

According to the plan, this work is expected to increase the annual gross national product by $500 to $600 million. According to the document, small charter aircraft with 20 or fewer seats will operate flights from all airports across the country and under regional connectivity.

Regular flights will operate between Karachi, Turbat, Gwadar, Quetta, Larkana, Sukkur, Lahore, Peshawar, Chitral, Mianwali, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan and Islamabad.

 

According to the working paper, there are only 50 commercial aircraft in the country with the population of 220 million, which are inadequate to meet travel needs of the large population.

 

In comparison, there are 700 commercial planes in Turkey with a population of eight million, around 500 in Malaysia with a population of 3.28 million, and 250 commercial planes in neighbouring Iran with a population of 8.8 million.

 

According to the document, despite having airports in all major cities, a few major cities and particularly secondary points, or between the CPEC routes, are serviced by air.  

 

The average travel distance between Lahore to Islamabad, Peshawar to Quetta, Quetta to Gwadar, Turbat or Karachi to Thar/Larkana is between 300-700 kilometres.

 

It takes seven to 15 hours by road and the journey is not only inconvenient due to its long duration but has also become very expensive due to the recent increase in fuel prices.

 

According to the document, out of 42 airports in Pakistan, 27 airports are active, including 12 international and 15 domestic. Out of these 27 airports, only 15 airports are operating scheduled flights. Out of 10 major cities of Pakistan, only five cities are connected by air.

 

Pakistan's aviation policy provides a lot of facilities to foreign airlines, which makes it easy for them to access the local market and benefits the Gulf carriers but is not suitable for the local industry.

 

In the last decade alone, several local airlines launched operations but soon had to shut down due to unfavourable conditions. After getting the licence, all the airlines want to operate flights only on Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad routes and completely ignore the regional operation due to the lack of law.

Source: The Express Tribune