Pakistan's New Gwadar International Airport Starts Operations

By Shakir Husain

NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- Pakistan's new Gwadar airport has started commercial operations with the arrival of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight on Monday.

The New Gwadar International Airport, part of the US$65-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and located 25 kilometres from Gwadar seaport on the Arabian Sea, is expected to significantly boost the region's global connectivity.

PIA's inaugural PK503 flight from Karachi's Jinnah International Airport was greeted with a water cannon salute as it landed at Gwadar in the morning, television channels showed.

Pakistan Defence and Aviation Minister Khawaja Asif and Balochistan chief minister Sarfraz Bugti were present at the ceremony, 

Spread over an area of 4,300 acres of land, the facility has a runway 3,658 metres long and 75 metres wide.

Developed with a US$230 million grant by China, the airport has a capacity to handle four million passengers annually.

-- BERNAMA