A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft is about to land at New Islamabad International Airport during a test flight in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, on April 7, 2018. The test flight of Pakistan International Airlines on Saturday landed at the New Islamabad International Airport, which is expected to be officially inaugurated on April 20. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)
ISLAMABAD, April 8 (Xinhua) -- First test flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) landed at the new Islamabad international airport on Saturday which is expected to be officially launched on April 20.
Prior to the test flight, the PIA said on its twitter account that the purpose of the mock up flight is to assess the operational ability of the airport.
The country's civil aviation said in a tweet "PK9001 has successfully landed at the New Islamabad International Airport as a scheduled mock flight to test operations."
The PIA also revamped its planes, featuring a logo of Pakistan's national animal Markhor in connection with the launch of the new airport, according to local reports.
The flight took 25 minutes to land at the new airport after taking off from the already operational Benazir International Airport Islamabad.
The Benazir Airport will be shifted to the new airport later this month, following which all flights will take off from the new airport located in Fateh Jang city.
The new airport is reportedly to be named after the country's first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and it will be the biggest international airport in the country in terms of landing and passenger handling facilities.
The "Y" shaped new airport spreads over 19 square km with 15 jetties including facilities to accommodate two double-deck A380, the world's largest airplane, among others, local reports said.
