The third biggest airport of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto Airport, functional in the capital city of Pakistan (Islamabad) and its adjacent city of Rawalpindi in Punjab province. Its previous name was Islamabad International Airport. PM of Pakistan, Mr Gillani, renamed this airport following the death of a Pakistani political leader Muhtarma Benazir Bhutto.

It is situated outside Islamabad, in Chaklala Rawalpindi. It often has the honour of hosting citizens and officials from other countries as it is the only airport connected to Pakistani capital city. PAF also shares the airfield and named it PAF Chaklala Airbase.

A new airport is under construction within Islamabad due to better services and facilities requirements. The airport will become the biggest airport of Pakistan. A site has been chosen in the area of Fateh Jang or Tarnol for this new airport which will only be 5 km away from Islamabad. The airport will be completed in 2010 according to estimates as the construction is underway. In 2007-2008, around 4.8 million travellers used Benazir Bhutto Intl. Airport. The amount of aircraft movements was registered as 49,775. It also serves the national flag carrier airline, PIA (Pakistan International Airline).

Structure

Benazir Bhutto Intl. Airport is a military as well as a civilian airport that handles VIPs and normal scheduled operations of many airlines. Important people like foreign diplomats, military officials and government officials use this airport with comfort. These VIPs are facilitated in Rawal Lounge. There are different lounges for domestic and international economy passengers. The international and domestic lounges have the facilities of snack bars, public telephones, satellite TV, and Internet. Lounges for the transit passengers, traveling further domestically or internationally, are also available. Designated areas for prayer are also available in the lounges. Business class and first class passengers traveling domestically or internationally can also use CIP lounge. Check-in staff issues the airline card to he passengers. At present, the airport is capable of handling 11 wide body aircrafts at once, with additional 5 parking places for aviation aircraft. At present, no air bridges are installed at the airport, so buses have to fetch the passengers from terminal to aircraft.
Various duty-free shops, wi-fi Internet services, restaurants, crafts shops and souvenir arts are available at the airport. There are many TV monitors and cell phone connecting points at the terminal to facilitate passengers in checking flight schedules and recharge their cell phone batteries. Commercial Banks and money exchange counters such as Habib Bank, NBP, and Muslim Commercial Bank are also available. RBS (previously ABN AMRO) and MCB have launched ATMs which are connected to Cirrus Maestro and Master Card networks. Recently a Smoke Zone has been opened in the lounge premises to meet health and safety issues. Smoke sucking air conditioners keep the air clean in the lounges. Same design is used which is generally observed at international airports.