DESIGN OF SHUTTLE SERVICE FOR NEW ISLAMABAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Abstract

New Islamabad International Airport at Fateh Jang is being constructed with the purpose of handling the ever-increasing demand of the passengers. The current airport i.e. Benazir Bhutto Airport Rawalpindi’ capacity stands at about 4.5 million. While studies conducted in 2008 showed the rise in number of passengers to about 9 million is space of about 20-25 years. Thus, almost doubling the demand raised the need of construction of new airport in the vicinity of Islamabad capable of handling the predicted or projected demand. In the face of these circumstances, an airport was announced to be built by the government and construction was duly started. Under construction airport is located at Fateh Jang, with a handling capacity of just over 9m. One major factor that needs to be noticed is the airport is at considerable distance from both Rawalpindi and Islamabad i.e. about 40 km each from their centers. This results in need of a shuttle service that will transport the passengers of both Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The shuttle service should be both economical and reliable. The areas pertaining Islamabad and Rawalpindi were divided into zones. Data was collected and surveys were organized. The information was then analyzed and the required demand to be handled by the shuttle service was determined. This demand was then used to design this service. Scheduling of shuttle service was carried out as per the demand. In the end result was the design of a shuttle service for the period of 20 years.