QUETTA – Pakistan has closed one of its airport for a duration as long as five months, it emerged on Saturday.
The country’s aviation regulator, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), announced to have closed Turbat airport for night flights for a period of five months due to repair work.
According to the CAA circular, flight operations at Turbat airport will remain suspended during the night time till August 25 due to upgradation work in progress on airside; the airlines have been informed accordingly.
The decision comes after CAA closed the Nawabshah airport for flight operations for two months due to a geotechnical study that needs to be carried out at the airport.
Only helicopters will be able to land and take off at the Nawabshah airport until May 23.
Turbat city is located in Balochistan, Pakistan’s land wise biggest province and interestingly, Turbat International Airport has the largest land area within the province. The airport is located 5 km South of the city.
The airport started operations in the 1970s when the Civil Aviation Authority constructed a runway and an apron to handle small turboprop aircraft.
Currently, it is the second largest airport, after Quetta International Airport in Balochistan as it caters to the population of Turbat and surrounding areas. The airport handles more than 90 flights on monthly basis including schedule and non-schedule (military) aircraft.
The ongoing year seems to be tough for the aviation community in Pakistan as the country has already finalized to outsource three of its major airports located in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.
The outsourcing of three airports has been kicked off within the scope of a public-private partnership to engage private investors/airport operators through a competitive and transparent process.
The investors and airport operators would be required to “run the airports, develop appertaining land assets and enhance avenues for commercial activities and to garner full revenue potential”.
