New Islamabad International Airport Project

[Abbas Ali]

According to PTV News:



Islamabad International Airport has two runways.

One of the runways can handle up to Airbus A380 weight category aircraft.

The other runway can handle up to Boeing 777 weight category aircraft.

The size of current terminal building is good enough to serve passenger traffic for next twenty years.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Preparations enter final stages to make Islamabad International Airport operational on May 3, 2018.



Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

New Islamabad Airport to have capacity of 25m passengers per annum

ISLAMABAD: the New Islamabad International Airport will become operational on May 3. The capital airport is the largest airport of country having state-of-the-art equipment and technology. Initially, nine million passengers will transit through this airport on annual basis. The airport’s ultimate capacity is about 25 million passengers per annum.

A senior official of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Syed Aftab Gilani disclosed this to The News on several questions regarding operationalisation of the airport. He added that this airport will be the most efficient airport from operational point of view.

Aftab Gilani said the airport has two runways and largest passenger aircraft Airbus A380 can land on it. He said A380 aircraft can land only few airports in the world. Contrary to old BBIAP Airport Islamabad, he said the new airport has three rapid exit taxiways which will help the aircraft immediately vacate the runway after landing. At the old airport, large aircraft took five minutes to backtrack and vacate runway which not only caused delays in arrival and departure of succeeding aircraft, but caused extra fuel consumption. He said the old airport had only one runway, whereas the new airport has two runways.

Responding to a query, the CAA official stated that if main runway is stuck due to any emergency, secondary runway can be used for the landing of aircraft up to Boeing B777. Therefore, he said, operation of the airport will not be disrupted. He said that with two runways, maintenance work can also be executed efficiently.

Aftab Gilani said the old airport has 11 stands but the new airport has 33 aircraft stands which include 15 bays with state-of-the-art passenger boarding bridges facilities. Pre-conditioned air and pop up pits have also been provided at aircraft stands. The new airport has five aprons including an exclusive apron for the parking of three cargo aircraft. The new airport also has LED airfield lighting system having good brilliance in night for navigation besides reducing electricity and maintenance cost of the airport. It will also be good for environment due to conservation of energy.

The CAA official said the old airport was not having this lighting system, while the new airport has latest navigation aids for the safe and efficient operation of aircraft. He said the main runway 28 L end is equipped with the most sophisticated system of landing i.e. instrument landing system (ILS) Category 3. In Pakistan, only the Lahore Airport is equipped with this system. In South East Asia region, after Delhi and Lahore Airport, Islamabad International Airport will be third airport to have this system. This system helps aircraft landing in 50-metre visibility during foggy season.

Aftab Gilani said the newly installed primary and secondary radar provides better surveillance of aircraft up to 100 nautical mile and 250 nautical mile ranges respectively. He said air traffic control also houses latest air traffic management systems and facilities including 45m high ATC tower for safe and efficient operation of aircraft. Two fire stations are fully equipped with fire vehicles and other resources like three fire tenders, 32,300 litres water,1,000kg foam etc. to meet response time of two to three minutes as per international standard for the emergency of aircraft up to A380 at or in the vicinity of the airport. The new airport has 70 international check in counters and 32 domestic check in counters contrary to 25 international counters and 20 domestic counters at old airport. Baggage throughput of baggage belts in international departure is 5,500 bags per hour and in international arrival it is 6,000 bags per hour.

Aftab Gilani said this baggage handling system also has latest standard three baggage scan machines as per international standards. He said the airport will also have latest perimeter intrusion detection system. Contrary to 600 car parking positions, the new airport will accommodate 2,200 car parking’s with nine exit and entry points. An area of 84,365 sq m has been fixed for the future development of maintenance repair overhaul (MRO) facility at new airport. “Therefore, we can proudly say that Islamabad International Airport will be the safest, most efficient and state-of-the-art airport ensuring safe and efficient operation of aircraft and passengers,” he said.

Source: The News

[Umar]

Just curious what Will happen to parked and stored aircraft at the old airport and also the shops and cafes etc will they be allowed to move and continue their business at the new airport or?

[KSKJADOON]

I have two questions in regards to the two parallel runways. Can someone please shed some light on this:

1. While there was so much land available, how can the designers and approvers make a serious blunder by constructing the two runways so close to each other that they cannot be used simultaneously by wide body aircrafts?
They could have quite easily built the second runway closer to the control tower.
I understand they are now looking to construct a third way, why?

2. The secondary runway is narrow in comparison to the primary and has no CAT3 and also has restricted weight allowance. Why did they not construct both runways with equal capability?

We all know how many years were spent on this project - how come these very basic and fundamental points were not considered?

[murtaza12]

I have two questions in regards to the two parallel runways. Can someone please shed some light on this:

1. While there was so much land available, how can the designers and approvers make a serious blunder by constructing the two runways so close to each other that they cannot be used simultaneously by wide body aircrafts?
They could have quite easily built the second runway closer to the control tower.
I understand they are now looking to construct a third way, why?

2. The secondary runway is narrow in comparison to the primary and has no CAT3 and also has restricted weight allowance. Why did they not construct both runways with equal capability?

We all know how many years were spent on this project - how come these very basic and fundamental points were not considered?

1) Apparently it wasn't always planned for it to have 2 runways, so technically not a blunder... or so they say.
They want to construct a third runway for future capacity extension, the growth rate is something like 6 or 7% per year, so by the time the land is fully acquired, and then construction and so on, it will probably be well past 2020 and hopefully ISB has some serious traffic by then. In which case, the current 2 runway setup may be inadequate.

2) Yes, according to an interview with a CAA exec, the secondary runway was actually a taxiway that was 'upgraded' to become a runway, hence the lower weight limit. As I mentioned earlier, the plan was apparently for only one runway initially.

[imiakhtar]

I have two questions in regards to the two parallel runways. Can someone please shed some light on this:

1. While there was so much land available, how can the designers and approvers make a serious blunder by constructing the two runways so close to each other that they cannot be used simultaneously by wide body aircrafts?
They could have quite easily built the second runway closer to the control tower.
I understand they are now looking to construct a third way, why?

2. The secondary runway is narrow in comparison to the primary and has no CAT3 and also has restricted weight allowance. Why did they not construct both runways with equal capability?

We all know how many years were spent on this project - how come these very basic and fundamental points were not considered?

Because contrary to the ignorant media ramblings, the runway plans and designs aren't a blunder. Lahore similarly has a weaker second runway as did London Gatwick until recently. Remember London Gatwick is a single runway operation and is well capable of handling 30m+ pax a year, a figure Islamabad is unlikely to hit for decades.

The runways haven't been built to the same standard for the simple reason of expense. Having a runway of equal PCN rating, width and ILS cat would cost millions of $.

[KSKJADOON]

Thanks for the clarification:

Then, do we know what the requirement is for a third runway?

If anything, it should be the terminal building which would need extending first........(when there is growth).

[KSKJADOON]

One further question:

If you look at Google's satellite images of the runway - you will notice that the runway markings from the western approach are different in comparison to the eastern approach.

Is there a specific reason for this?
aren't these marking have to be at a set distance on the approach as per International standards?

[Shahab]

Not sure if I understand the question correctly. Are you talking about 10L, 10R markings on the runway. If so then the runway markings are the bearing of the runway from each direction. It is 100° on one side hence 10L (left) and 10R (right) and 280° from the other side hence 28L and 28R. The convention is to drop the last 0 from the end and mark the runways by first two letters. For example 09 would mean 90° bearing.

[KSKJADOON]

In my question I was referring to the 'touchdown zone' and its approach marking. Not the orientation 10L/R.

As they are marked at different distances from the threshold at each end.

[ats_patrol]

I have two questions in regards to the two parallel runways. Can someone please shed some light on this:

1. While there was so much land available, how can the designers and approvers make a serious blunder by constructing the two runways so close to each other that they cannot be used simultaneously by wide body aircrafts?
They could have quite easily built the second runway closer to the control tower.
I understand they are now looking to construct a third way, why?

In the first design, islamabad airport was to have one runway and one parallel taxiway. Then someone pointed that in case of an emergency, the runway might get blocked. It was decided to upgrade the parallel taxiway into a standby runway and design a new parallel taxiway. Ofcourse, they had much land and could design two independent runways but the costs involved were too much. An independent runway means independent air traffic controller for that runway (meaning another tower), independent Fire services and another parallel taxiway to avoid backtrack. IMO, the costs were too high and dont forget during PPP regime, the terminal building was reduced to just 9 aerobridge gates instead of the planned 15. So, this option was ruled out altogether.

2. The secondary runway is narrow in comparison to the primary and has no CAT3 and also has restricted weight allowance. Why did they not construct both runways with equal capability?

We all know how many years were spent on this project - how come these very basic and fundamental points were not considered?

Secondary runway is just standby runway. Even ILS CAT-III B at primary runway isnt justifiable becasue ISB gets only few days of bad visibility, and even then the visibility gets improved fast. I think an airport with about 100 or more movements per day having CAT3 for only few hours of bad visibility in the whole year is questionable. Thats why no surface movement radar is installed.

The Primary and Secondary runways have same weight restrictions. Both are constructed using same materials and have same pavement classification number (PCN). The only difference is the width of the runway. The primary runway is 60m wide, whereas secondary is 45m wide.

2) Yes, according to an interview with a CAA exec, the secondary runway was actually a taxiway that was 'upgraded' to become a runway, hence the lower weight limit. As I mentioned earlier, the plan was apparently for only one runway initially.

No Lower weight limit.

In my question I was referring to the 'touchdown zone' and its approach marking. Not the orientation 10L/R.

As they are marked at different distances from the threshold at each end.

No, they are not. They are exactly similar

[ammad]

Liqat Ali Khan is more deserving of having the airport named after.

Liaquat Ali Khan or Fatima Jinnah will be the more appropriate name for the Airport. I wish Prime Minister pick the name from either of these names on the day of Inauguration.

[imiakhtar]

Secondary runway is just standby runway. Even ILS CAT-III B at primary runway isnt justifiable becasue ISB gets only few days of bad visibility, and even then the visibility gets improved fast. I think an airport with about 100 or more movements per day having CAT3 for only few hours of bad visibility in the whole year is questionable. Thats why no surface movement radar is installed.

The Primary and Secondary runways have same weight restrictions. Both are constructed using same materials and have same pavement classification number (PCN). The only difference is the width of the runway. The primary runway is 60m wide, whereas secondary is 45m wide.

Thanks for your input ats. It's nice to have a professional who knows their subject matter on these forums.

For clarification, do you know what the current ILS cat is for runway 28L? The information I have (nearly a year old) is that it is only certified to cat 2 standard, not cat 3.

[Vaqar Khan]

PM rejects three names proposed for new Islamabad airport

http://www.dawn.com/news/1403730/pm-rej ... ad-airport