Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Allama Iqbal International Airport (OPLA/LHE) is Pakistan's third-busiest airport, serving Lahore in Punjab province, and is a major hub for Pakistan International Airlines. Its twin parallel runways and full ILS coverage make it a straightforward destination for airliner and general aviation traffic alike, set within a busy controlled airspace environment about 15 kilometres from the city centre.
Allama Iqbal International Airport lies at Lahore, the capital of Punjab province and Pakistan's second-largest city, roughly 15 kilometres from the city centre. It is operated by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and serves as a hub for Pakistan International Airlines, as well as an operating base for SereneAir. For a simulator pilot the field offers a large, well-equipped international airport with long parallel hard runways, full ILS approaches and busy mixed traffic, making it a good study in operating alongside airline movements in South Asian airspace.
The airport sits at Lahore in Punjab province, Pakistan, about 15 kilometres from the city centre, and as a major international gateway it lies within controlled airspace commensurate with a large commercial airport. It is the busiest airport serving the Lahore metropolitan area and the surrounding Punjab region, with the disused Walton Airport, now used for Hajj operations, located nearby in the same city.
The airport has two physical runway pairs. The main runway, 18L/36R, is 11,007 feet long with a hard surface and is lit; the 36R end is additionally equipped with an ILS. The secondary runway, 18R/36L, is approximately 9,027 to 9,028 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, with the 36L end equipped with an ILS. Field elevation is 705 feet.
Lahore Approach operates on 121.3 MHz, with an ATIS broadcast on 126.3 MHz. Ground movements are handled by Lahore Ground on 118.4 MHz, and Lahore Tower controls on 118.1 MHz. Instrument approaches are available, with ILS serving runway 36R on the main runway and runway 36L on the secondary runway.
At the time of Pakistan's independence, Walton Airport was the main airfield serving Lahore, but it could not handle the Boeing 720 jets acquired by Pakistan International Airlines. The government therefore built a new airport on the site of a former runway airbase that had three runways, opening it in 1962 as Lahore International Airport with facilities built to handle aircraft up to the Boeing 747, which allowed Lahore to become accessible to international flights; PIA subsequently began direct services to Dubai and to London via Karachi. As demand grew over the following 25 years, a larger terminal was commissioned by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and inaugurated in March 2003 by President General Pervez Musharraf. At this point the airport was renamed Allama Iqbal International Airport in honour of the Islamic philosopher and poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal, one of the intellectual figures associated with the movement for the creation of Pakistan, and it became the second-largest airport in the country after Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. The former Walton Airport was passed to the military and later redeveloped by the government as a Hajj terminal. In March 2006 PIA inaugurated nonstop Boeing 777-200LR service between Lahore and Toronto, and in 2008 Etihad Airways opened a dedicated aircraft line maintenance facility at the airport for hydraulic, structural and instrument checks on its fleet. British Airways resumed direct flights to Lahore in October 2020 after a 44-year absence, though these were later suspended.
The airport today comprises three terminals: the Allama Iqbal passenger terminal, a Hajj terminal, and a cargo terminal, and it remains a hub for Pakistan International Airlines as well as an operating base for SereneAir. Expansion work began in 2024 to reduce peak-hour congestion, including a new remote parking area and terminal extension, with plans to increase the number of gates and boost annual passenger capacity considerably; a three-storey parking facility has already been completed as part of this programme, and work to upgrade the main runway is under way.