After the construction and repair of SIAL (Sialkot International Airport) runway, it was opened on June 12 for all types of flights. All the airlines arriving at Sialkot International Airport have started scheduling their flights.

The airlines have started their flight operations to/from SIAL. The first flight of PIA operated on June 21, from Dammam to Sialkot. The flight PK 9246 arrived in the evening with 140 passengers and 8 crew at the airport. Emirates has also started its cargo flights, from Sialkot, the first flight EK-618 arrived at SIAL on the evening of Friday, June 26, and departed from SIAL to Dubai with 40 tons of cargo on the same night. Air Arabia has also started its scheduled operation on Friday, June 26 after March 26, 2020, as it was lockdown. The first flight arrived at night from Sharjah to SIAL with 168 passengers and departed from SIAL with 77 passengers on the same night.

The people of the area are rejoicing with the commencement of air operations at the airport. It may be recalled that due to Corona, all the flight’s operation was stopped on March 26, 2020, so the SIAL management took advantage of this opportunity and decided to start repair work on runway of the airport, but due to lockdown across the country the work was severely affected but Chairman SIAL Mr. Nadeem Anwar Qureshi, the Vice Chairman Ch. M. Afzal Shaheen and CEO Maj. Gen (R) Muhammad Abid Nazir used all their resources in this difficult situation and repair work of the runway completed timely.

The efforts of convener, construction committee,   SIAL,   Mr.   Zulfiqar Ahsan Bhatti in this regard are commendable, while resident Engineer NESPAK Saud Barkzai, Airport Manager Nazir Ahmed, Project Manager SIAL, Eng. Hassan Nawaz’s team and SVO Col (R) Ghiasuddin, also deserve congratulation. In this regard cooperation of chief Security Officer Airport Security Force, Additional Director Tariq Mahmood Butt and other subordinate officers and personals were also exemplary.