Sialkot International Airport - A First of Its Kind in the Region

This is a Brief about Sialkot International Airport Ltd. (SIAL)

The airport is actually located in Sambrial which is 16km in the west of the main district of Sialkot, Pakistan. It is more commonly known as the first and perhaps the only privately owned commercial airport developed on self-help basis not just in Pakistan but in the entire South East Asia. This initiative was taken by the 223 members of the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industries (SCCI) and currently 365 directors are the part of the board of Sialkot International Airport Ltd. (SIAL). 

Background

In February 2001, President of Pakistan approved this project in principal on build, operate and owned basis. After that, 1034 acres of land was acquired and construction work was started in 2003. With the cost of about 4 billion rupees, the project was completed and the airport started its international and domestic operations in November 2007. Qatar Airways started its cargo operations in 2008 as initially the international airlines were allowed only to operate cargo flights from this airport. Later in 2013, authorities allowed these airlines to operate passenger operations as well when in January, the same year, airarabia started its passenger flights. 

Need of This Airport

The need of this airport is linked to three industrial cities of Pakistan i.e., Sialkot, Gujrat and Gujranwala. In local business settings, this is also know as "Export Triangle" or "Golden Triangle". As many readers may know, Sialkot is famous for its sports goods and surgical equipment while Gujarat and Gujranwala are famous for its pottery, electric appliances, textile, cutlery and rice production etc.. Previously, the exporters had to use Sambrial Dry Port, from where the goods used to transfer to Islamabad International Airport or Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore to access the international markets. This was, of course, costly and time consuming. So the exporters of this "Triangle" requested the government to build an airport in the locality to support their export but the government did not have financial capacity for this project at that time. So the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industries decided to commence this mega project by itself.

Facilities

The airport has the basic systems installed for passenger processing such as Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE), Baggage Reconciliation System and Flight Information Display System. Moreover, it is a single runway airport with  3600m long runway that comes under ICAO category E4 - (ICAO is International Civil Aviation Organization). Category E4 runways are usually equipped to handle aircrafts like Airbus 340, 330 and Boeing 747, 777. Its apron has the current capacity of handling seven nose-in parking of widebody aircraft at a time but it has only two boarding-bridges. 

Its passenger terminal is 10,000 sq. m. building with all basic amenities for passengers, airlines and authorities whereas the cargo complex is spread about 2000 sq. m. of the airport land. Other facilities include banks, ATM, Money Exchangers, Rental Cars, Restaurants, Cafes and CIP lounge for business class passengers (the economy class passengers may also avail CIP lounge which may cost them equivalent to around $10). 

Airlines

Poplar destinations from this airport are Muscat, Dammam, Dubai, Sharja, Riyadh, Doha and Karachi while the major airlines that are currently operating at this airport are:

• Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)
• Airsial
• Fly Dubai
• Gulf Air
• Qatar Airways
• Airarabia
• Emirates