Why Pakistan’s largest international airport has no passengers or flights

Pakistan’s coastal city of Gwadar has got the country’s most expensive airport. Funded and built by China at a whopping cost of $240 million (about Rs 2,981 crore), the New Gwadar International Airport in the restive Balochistan province opened last month.

However, the airport reportedly has no planes or passengers. People in Gwadar are not excited about the airport constructed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC).

But why is it so? We will explain.

All about Pakistan’s newest airport

Spanning over 430 acres of land, Gwadar houses Pakistan ’s largest international airport. It is a part of the $42 billion (Rs 3.6 lakh crore) CPEC that connects China’s western Xinjiang province with the Arabian Sea.

The airport boasts modern facilities, with authorities hailing it as a milestone for the South Asian country. It has an annual passenger capacity of 400,000, which can be expanded to 1.6 million, reported Dawn.

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The Gwadar International Airport is located about 45 kilometres from the Chinese-run Gwadar Port. China and Pakistan see the new airport and the deep-sea port as a hub to boost trade and regional connectivity.

Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif and his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang inaugurated the new airport in a virtual ceremony last month. At the time of its opening, Sharif said the airport would transform Gwadar into a key link between Central and Eastern Asia, West Asia and Gulf countries.

In a statement, he hailed the state-of-the-art airport as a symbol of the enduring friendship between Pakistan and China. “This achievement brings us closer to fulfilling the shared commitment of Chinese President Xi Jinping and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the development of Pakistan and the region through CPEC,” PM Sharif was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

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Why are there no passengers at new Gwadar airport?

Gwadar lies in southwestern Balochistan province, which is marred by security challenges. The Baloch insurgency first began 50 years ago and continues even today.

Balochistan is rich in resources and locals believe they have no control over them. Separatists, who are targeting both Pakistani troops and Chinese workers, claim state exploitation at the expense of locals.

Locals told Associated Press (AP) that anyone who raises the issues of exploitation or oppression can be detained and is suspected of links with armed groups.

Islamabad-based journalist and researcher Adnan Aamir wrote in a piece published by the Australian think tank Lowy Institute, “Gwadar is considered a huge resource of Balochistan, and handing a level of control to China has further exacerbated the situation, resulting in an increased number of attacks on Chinese interests in the region.”

The report said these attacks have hampered any new commercial activity in Gwadar.

The coastal city is facing drought due to which there is a water scarcity. There are also not enough jobs for the locals. As per the AP report, the government claims CPEC has generated about 2,000 local jobs without clarifying by “local” whether they mean Baloch residents or Pakistanis from elsewhere in the country.

Gwadar’s 90,000 population is indifferent to the international airport. “This airport is not for Pakistan or Gwadar,” Azeem Khalid, an international relations expert who specialises in Pakistan-China ties, told AP. “It is for China, so they can have secure access for their citizens to Gwadar and Balochistan.”

The ethnic Baloch minority allege discrimination by the government, claiming they are denied opportunities in other parts of the country. However, the Pakistani government rejects these charges.

Abdul Ghafoor Hoth, district president of the Balochistan Awami Party, has claimed no one from Gwadar was recruited to work at the airport, “not even as a watchman.” “Forget the other jobs, how many Baloch people are at this port that was built for CPEC,” he was quoted as saying by AP. 

Due to security threats creating the perception of Gwadar being dangerous or difficult, Gwadar’s domestic airport has only one commercial route, operating flights to Karachi. Moreover, there are no direct flights to Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta.

Gwadar does not have a stable source of power. Its electricity comes from neighbouring Iran or solar panels. “A 300-MW power plant to be built by the Chinese is still awaiting approval from the government. Reliable road and rail links connecting Gwadar with the rest of the country are still missing. All of these compound the failure of Gwadar city as a commercial hub,” Aamir wrote in his report for the Lowy Institute.

With inputs from agencies