‘Longstanding demand of Sindh’s business community’: FPCCI exhorts govt to upgrade Sukkur airport

KARACHI: Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, the president of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), has said the federal government should decisively proceed towards enabling Sukkur airport to handle international flights, which happens to be a longstanding demand of the business community of Sindh province.

He pointed out that Sukkur has proximity to eight big or small districts of Sindh that are at a drive of merely 30-45 minutes, and the city has all the potential to be an important spot for promoting business, industrial and trade activities. Upgrading the Sukkur airport will result in economic betterment of the entire province.

Irfan Sheikh said that Sukkur is not too far from Khairpur and the Khairpur Special Economic Zone (KSEZ). It’s in the interest of the KSEZ that the Sukkur airport has direct international flights because that will facilitate international investors.

He added that when the KSEZ starts its operations and finds itself without an international airport in close proximity, the zone’s prospects and potential will be adversely affected.

The FPCCI chief urged Khawaja Saad Rafique, the federal aviation minister, to instruct the officials concerned in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to prepare the feasibility and come up with a practical timeframe to transform Sukkur airport into an international one.

He appreciated the aviation minister’s directives to CAA to design a better and efficient flight schedule to facilitate domestic flights to and from the Sukkur airport in order to benefit the business community of Sukkur and the eight nearby districts collectively.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022