Gwadar International Airport

In 1958, the town of Gwadar was purchased by Government of Pakistan from the Sultan of

Muscat. Air operations started in 1966. The airport gained international status when two weekly
flights from Karachi to Muscat via Gwadar were initiated. The terminal building was inaugurated
in 1984 and new departure/VIP lounges opened in 2008. The current airport caters mainly to the
population of Gwadar. Pakistan International Airlines, the main airline flying out of the airport,
connects Gwadar to Karachi, Turbat, Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Dubai, Qatar,
Kuwait city, Riyadh, Tehran, Mashhad, Bahrain and Muscat.

New Gwadar International Airport (NGIA)

A New Gwardar International Airport (NGIA) is being built and will be country's biggest when
completed in 2022. Occupying 4,300 acres (17 km²) of land, it is located in Gurandani, 26km
north-east of the existing airport in Gwadar City on the south-western Arabian Sea coast of
Balochistan region. NGIA is expected to cost $230 million. It is fully funded by China as a grant.
PM Imran Khan had laid down the foundation stone for NGIA on 29th March 2019.
This greenfield airport will include a modern terminal building alongside a cargo terminal with
an initial handling capacity of 30,000 tonnes a year.

NGIA will have the capacity to accommodate aircraft wide body aircraft including Airbus
A380 & Boeing 747 and including narrow body aircraft such as ATR-72 & Boeing B 737. It will
have a single runway with 3,658 metres of length and a width of 75 metres that will have the
capacity to accommodate wide bodied aircraft.
A taxiway of 23 metres length alongside a 10.5 metres paved shoulders for both sides. The
airport will also have the capacity to build the second runway in the north direction of the first
runway. An Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower, crash, fire and rescue facilities will be built as
well as a fuel farm. The expected time of completion is 2022.
It will be the biggest airport of Pakistan. In comparison to other airports like Karachi Airport
(3,700 acres), Islamabad International Airport (3,600 acres), Lahore Airport (2,800 acres), the
Gwadar Airport will be built on 4,300 acres.
2nd phase of construction
The construction of the much-awaited New Gwadar International Airport (NGIA) costing $ 230
million has entered into its second phase after meeting specific benchmarks laid down in the first
phase. According to a report, with completion of the first phase involving soil testing, ground
leveling, land boundaries, design details and walls construction at adjacent properties, the second
phase has been unveiled with a purpose-built mega permanent station.
The second phase involves modern terminal and cargo buildings, communication & navigational
projects, air traffic control system, runway, water supply, power supply, HVAC, parking space,
residential area, schools and other facilities.

The world’s emptiest airport

There are striking similarities between NGIA and MRIA (Mattala Rajapaksa
International Airport, Sri Lanka), which was also built by a Chinese firm. MRIA was similarly
purpose-built to accommodate the Airbus A380 and, most importantly, this airport was built to
cater to the air traffic needs of the Chinese-built port of Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka.
Built in 2013, MRIA had a few flights a week, but in 2015 almost all the flights were halted.
Nowadays it is called the world’s emptiest airport because hardly any passengers use it. In
December 2017, Sri Lanka handed over Hambantota Port to China on a 99-year lease after
failing to repay the Chinese loans used to build it.
The fate of MRIA is causing fears that NGIA could also go the same way because its future
demand projections seem to be too ambitious. At present, air passenger numbers at Gwadar are
20 times lower than Karachi. In three years’ time, when NGIA is due to start operations, demand
for air travel in Gwadar will be nowhere near that of Karachi. Therefore, it is very likely that
NGIA will have the same look of an empty airport as MRIA.

The success of the airport is linked with Gwadar Port

It seems that the government of Pakistan has pinned its hopes on the success of Gwadar Port to
generate air traffic demand for the New Gwadar International Airport, even though Gwadar Port
has not yet achieved the level of success anticipated for it as the starting node of the CPEC.
Currently, Gwadar Port has only three berths, as compared to 10 at Chabahar Port and 67 berths
at Jebel Ali Port in Dubai. Shipping activity in Gwadar Port has not yet really kicked off, but if
the port does not become established as a trade hub, then NGIA airport cannot be successful in
developing air traffic demand.
The success of not only the airport but every major investment that China and Pakistan are
making in the region completely depends on giving the local people a share. ‘Currently, the local
population looks at all the development with resentment because they see no benefits for
themselves

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