Approximately 1,000,000 travellers from Sialkot and adjacent areas are expected to benefit from this international airport each year.
Recently it has been confirmed that the airport will be developed further, the apron will be extended to accommodate 12 aircraft and jet bridges will be installed.
History
The export-oriented industrial city of Sialkot had long felt the need for an international passenger and cargo airport. The nearest one was in Lahore which is about 125 km away. The federal government promised the industrialists of Sialkot an international airport. Due to bureaucratic red-tape, indifference by the government and, more importantly, its proximity to Indian-administered Kashmir and periodic shelling from across the border, no work could be started.
Tired of foot-dragging, Sialkot's industrialists in the late 1980s agreed to build the airport themselves and sought the federal government's approval. On February 2, 2001, approval was granted after a decade of negotiations with the federal government, and construction of an international airport at Sialkot for passenger and cargo traffic began. A team of directors was approved, under the chairmanship of Mian Mansha (three times chairman for SIAL), all of whom placed personal wealth into the project as a primary investment. Each director on the board had previous experience running sizable and successful enterprises — they were selected due to this knowledge. Also, with Rs 5 million of personal investment in the project by each one of them, the directors had a direct stake in its profitability. As the development of SIAL went on, the number of directors had reached 250 and it was decided to close membership to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors at SIAL inspired confidence that the potential of the airport project will be fully realized. On February 26, 2001, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority with the approval of Ministry of Defence for the construction of an international airport in Sialkot.
On March 24, 2005, Sialkot International Airport Limited (SIAL) was formed under the auspices of the chamber. On March 26, 2005, the first plane landed on the newly constructed runway, which has been built to handle a fully loaded Boeing 747, as plans involve dealing with heavy aircraft for cargo imports and exports. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) test flight PK-613 landed at the Sialkot International Airport on October 20, 2007.
A memorandum of understanding between PIA and Sialkot International Airport Authority for mutual cooperation and joint promotion of Sialkot International Airport was signed by Anwaar Rasul Khan, senior vice president (Sales), PIA, and Mian Naeem Javed, director, Sialkot International Airport.
The first and the largest international airport constructed by the private sector in Pakistan, at a cost of over Rs 2.6 billion, became operational on November 30, 2007. The former military ruler of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf formally inaugurated the Sialkot International Airport on December 11, 2007.
As of today, Sialkot has the longest runway (3600 m) of all airports in Pakistan; this will change when the new New Islamabad International Airport becomes operational.
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