Lahore Airport Expansion Project

[virk]

[TAILWIND]

Going by the present activty at Lahore's new terminal, I feel that instead of expanding, they should be thinking of shrinking the terminal. For past 2-3 years i have been transiting at lahore on various domestic flight at different times of the day, I could only see emty parking lots, vacant lounges and on one day for three hours there was no flight landing or taking off. Mine was the only flight, an ATR with about 28 passengers had the full domestic lounge at out disposal.
Having seen karachi airport in mid eighties, I think that air travel is decreasing rather than inccreasing in our country.

[Abbas Ali]

Good to know about expansion project. At night during peak domestic and particularly international flights rush hour things do become congested/crowded at Lahore Airport and sometimes also becomes difficult to find car parking space.

Here's rough translation of Urdu news report posted by forum member virk.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has awarded Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, expansion project to National Engineering Services Pakistan (Pvt) Limited (NESPAK). The project will be completed in two years. Project work includes expansion of immigration hall, customs hall, international and domestic departure & arrival halls to meet demand for next 20 years. CAA Director Planning & Development Vikram Sodha during media briefing said that A-level facilities are being provided at Lahore Airport. The number of check-in counters will be increased from 24 to 48 and number of immigration counters will be increased from 10 to 20.

On the Net:

www.caapakistan.com.pk

www.nespak.com.pk

[Airborne]

Going by the present activty at Lahore's new terminal, I feel that instead of expanding, they should be thinking of shrinking the terminal. For past 2-3 years i have been transiting at lahore on various domestic flight at different times of the day, I could only see emty parking lots, vacant lounges and on one day for three hours there was no flight landing or taking off. Mine was the only flight, an ATR with about 28 passengers had the full domestic lounge at out disposal.
Having seen karachi airport in mid eighties, I think that air travel is decreasing rather than inccreasing in our country.

You should see when flights are departing from and to Middle East, Europe and North America and maybe then you'll change your opinion.

[PK777]

Good to know about expansion project. At night during peak domestic and particularly international flights rush hour things do become congested/crowded at Lahore Airport and sometimes also becomes difficult to find car parking space.

Here's rough translation of Urdu news report posted by forum member virk.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has awarded Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, expansion project to National Engineering Services Pakistan (Pvt) Limited (NESPAK). The project will be completed in two years. Project work includes expansion of immigration hall, customs hall, international and domestic departure & arrival halls to meet demand for next 20 years. CAA Director Planning & Development Vikram Sodha during media briefing said that A-level facilities are being provided at Lahore Airport. The number of check-in counters will be increased from 24 to 48 and number of immigration counters will be increased from 10 to 20.

On the Net:

www.caapakistan.com.pk

www.nespak.com.pk

Exaclty! when I fly out of Lahore there is soo much rush and congestion. At one point I was waiting for two hours since my flight and a SV 747 had landed pretty much back to back. You should have seen the immigration counters.. it was a sight!

So glad they have considered increasing LHE, it truly deserves it! Apparently when LHE was built alot of funding was taken out of it and the airport was shriken to save costs.. now they have to fund it to increase it.. oh well.

[aslihan]

NESPAK(National Engineering Services of Pakistan http://www.nespak.com.pk) is a consulting firm owned by the Govt. of Pakistan through WAPDA. NESPAK is NOT a construction company by itself. It only engages in engineering designs and oversees construction projects on behalf of the Govt.

NC (National Construction) is the construction company owned by GoP. Therefore, saying it will be completed in two years is pre-mature.

NESPAK were also a co-consultant in original Lahore airport expansion project. Now they will be the lead. Let the design come out from NESPAK and then we can comment. NESPAK will design the project, prepare bid (RFP) documents, and evaluate bids once bids are received by GoP, assist in contractor selection and oversee the contsruction activity.

[cpt_747]

What about buidling new gates?

[Abbas Ali]

Lahore Airport Infrastucture To Be Improved To Accomodate Airbus A380 Aircraft

LAHORE, July 31: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has decided to expand Allama Iqbal International Airport to deal with congestion problem and increasing air traffic.

Lahore Airport Manager Aamer Mehboob said on Thursday said Nespak would design augmenting the capacity of the terminal, domestic and international lounges and airside services, including provision of Avio bridges and improvement of infrastructure to accommodate Airbus A380.

He said a memorandum of understanding between the CAA and Nespak had been signed.The project would help enhance 100 per cent facilities at the airport. He said counters for airlines and immigration, customs and security would also be increased.

Source: DAWN

Rs One Billion For Improving Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport

LAHORE (August 01 2008): The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has decided to go for development and expansion of Allama Iqbal International Airport at a cost of Rs 1 billion to address existing congestion problem and accommodate growth in international traffic.

Syed Aamer Mehboob, general manager/airport manager, Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore, expressed these views in a meeting, said a CAA spokesman here on Thursday. "The Ministry of Defence, in the light of the problems faced by the passengers due to the constraints/congestion, had approved the project and would be completed in 18 months, after approval of the design in about three months," he added.

While elaborating on the future plan, he said the project, being supervised by Nespak, has been designed to augment capacity of the terminal, ie international/domestic lounges and airside services, including provision of Avio bridges and improvement/enforcement of infrastructure to accommodate Airbus A-380.

"In this regard, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Director (planning and development) Vikram Singh and Nespak Director Ejaz Saeed on July 30," he added. While explaining the project, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) general manager said with this project the facilities will be enhanced by 100 percent. He also said the number of counters for airlines, immigration, customs/security will be increased.

"The congestion problem in briefing and baggage area will be resolved. This will help reduce passenger clearance/processing time by 50 percent and also enhance passengers' facilities. Also, with the expansion plan, additional number of airlines could be accommodated in next 15 years, which would translate into more revenue," he added.

Source: www.brecorder.com.pk

[Abbas Ali]

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) tender notice appearing in today's (October 10, 2008) newspaper.

Note package-5 which I believe is for installation of new passenger boarding bridges to handle Airbus A380 aircraft.



On the Net:

CAA - Pakistan - www.caapakistan.com.pk

Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore - www.lahoreairport.com.pk

[PK777]

Hope AIIA gets the upgrade it truly derves.. the current airport is too compact and squashed to handle two 747s!

[Abbas Ali]

Pakistan CAA notice in today's (March 19) newspaper for addition & alteration in international passenger lounges at Allama Iqbal International Air Port (AIIAP), Lahore.



On the Net: www.caapakistan.com.pk

[PK777]

Yeh I guess this project is going to take ages to start!

[nopy99]

LHE AIIA was a missed opportunity. it was too small from day 1 and should have been at least twice the size. The old terminal actually worked better given the PAX movements at the time.

Also the initial project should have rebuilt the airstrip as dual runway allowing parallel operating options in the future. the location of the new terminal means that a 3rd runway cannot now be retro built.

The land owners surrounding the new terminal have made loads of money though.

[PK777]

the location of the new terminal means that a 3rd runway cannot now be retro built.

The land owners surrounding the new terminal have made loads of money though.

Those comments are very true.

Got any complains, comments and suggestions email: C.OX.O.AIIAP@caapakistan.com.pk

remove the X in the above email.

[faiq]

When is the expantion expected of the airport. Because current airport cannot even support the parking of two B773 side by side because of the gap between the bridges is less. Airport was designed to park 7 A310 side by side which was wrong and now as teh traffic increases more bridges are required along with immigration and check in counters.