The new Islamabad International Quaid-e-Azam International airport in the Pakistani capital is set to open on April 20 with PIA - Pakistan International Airlines operating the maiden service out of the new facility on the day of the opening, The Express Tribune has reported.

The Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has also urged all other operators currently using the existing Islamabad International Benazir Bhutto International facility to transfer to the new airport on April 20.

The construction of the new airport, a first dedicated civilian facility serving Pakistan's capital, started in 2007. It was initially slated for opening in August 2017 but this was postponed due to a series of irregularities in procurement identified by the Auditor General last year. In total, the new airport cost some USD700 million, over twice as much as the initial budget, dpa newswire has reported.

The capacity of the new airport will be just 9 million passengers per annum.

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the existing dual-use airport in Islamabad is chiefly served by the flag carrier. With 164 weekly departures, PIA has a 46.2% market share in Islamabad. Other airlines serving the airport include Shaheen Air International and AirBlue. The most served destinations are Karachi International (84 weekly departures), Dubai International (32), Abu Dhabi International (27), and Lahore International (24).

Islamabad is currently the second largest airport in Pakistan, trailing behind Karachi and just slightly ahead of Lahore. The airport sees relatively limited long-haul traffic with the most popular such destinations being Manchester International (seven weekly departures), London Heathrow (five), and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (four).