Airports can make or break
vacations more often than not. Having a troublesome experience at a
sub-standard airport with poor amenities and check-in procedures can test even
the most patient of people. And the problem can escalate if you have a young
family to guide through such unsavory conditions. Luckily for me that isn’t the
case but this was certainly not an experience I wanted to repeat, so I will
share the experience with you.
It’s all well and good
preparing for a bad airport but sometimes there’s very little you can do. Every
year, Sleepingin Airports releases their ‘Worst
Airports of the Year’ list. News like this usually does the rounds and even
sees many of the mainstream news portals such as CNN
pick it up as a very newsworthy story.
Pakistan’s Islamabad Benazir
Bhutto International Airport was described by Sleeping in Airports as “likened to
a central prison,” among other things. It’s also extremely overcrowded, suffers
from “pervasive corruption,” which you can fall victim of, and its overzealous
and aggressive security checks have come under fire from many aviation industry
experts.
It doesn’t stop there
either. The airport’s general cleanliness is horrendous, and has a distinct
lack of technology thus it attracts large amounts of criticism for languishing
in the dark ages. With these issues being a constant problem many have called
into question the Pakistani government for not being able to manage things such
as the congestion issues properly. And this was alarming to see it firsthand.
The airport also has
congestion issues regarding the ingress and egress points of the airport. Heavy
traffic jams are a common occurrence around the airport. Even though the
airport isn’t particularly big, it still struggles with the volume of
passengers and vehicles it facilitates. It’s a stark contract to European
airports or even to a certain degree Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Our
very own Manila airport comes under scrutiny very often by the media, but it is
a dream compared to Benazir Bhutto International Airport. Our local
infrastructure is gradually improving, Caticlan airport has received a major
redevelopment, and respective local airlines are winning awards.
This flight
guide for Manilato Cebu courtesy of Philippine Airlines outlines how the country’s second
biggest city is now very easy to travel around even though it’s in close
proximity to the airport. This is in stark contrast to Benazir Bhutto
International Airport as it makes it hard work for you to leave it let alone get
around the city of Islamabad. So, if other relatively small airports like Cebu
International Airport can function efficiently, why can’t Islamabad’s Benazir
Bhutto International Airport? Don’t panic because change is on the way. Or is
it?
The new airport built in Islamabad
was meant to be complete by 2016 but it has been put back again. So does that
mean when I next have to fly to Islamabad for work that I won’t have to fly to Benazir
Bhutto International Airport? I am not holding my breath yet. But it would
certainly be nice.
What will happen to the
infamous Islamabad Benazir Bhutto International Airport has yet to be announced
but if it does end up being knocked down, I don’t think that many people will
miss this unhygienic relic. The one thing I do know for sure, is if I don’t
have to step foot in it again, I will be a happy man!
Author Bio:
Gino Cruz: Gino works in a
call center in the middle of Cebu. He has six dogs, and is married with three
children. He splits his time between the Philippines and Pakistan due to work
commitments. Gino loves to play cricket and basketball.
