Briefing about airport
There are many beautiful airports in Pakistan, but the most popular is “Walton Airport”-It came into being in the 19th century 1918. 300acres of land was acquired to build this airport. The Punjab government was a key to making this airport’s dream possible. 4 Indian doctors gave 30 acres of land for the airport, and all the remaining acres were given by (GOP). Walton airport is also known as Walton airfield.
Is it a private or government airport?
It’s government property of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Pakistan.
Where does it locate?
It is positioned in the model town, 10 km from the center of the city of Lahore, in the province of Punjab, Pakistan.
Why it’s called Walton?
The story behind it is that there was a man who headed the Flying school in Lahore, Pakistan in 1935. He was an active person and was very passionate about his work. His name was Sir Colonel Cusack Walton. He struggles very hard in this field. To keep his name alive in everyone’s minds forever. After his death, this airport was named Walton.
For what reason is this airport well-known?
This airport is very famous for many reasons, but the most popular thing happened at this airport in 1947. Which further enhanced the importance of this airport.
Our beloved leader Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah landed for the first time in the new state of Pakistan at this airdrome.
Establishment of the airport
A group of philanthropist aviators founded a club in 1930, which is named Punjab flying club. The club had established to provide a platform for those who had a passion for their fantasy come true. This club was doing a great job in the area of Punjab. In 1932, after two years of its service. Its name has changed from Punjab flying club to Northern Indian flying club.
They took 157.87 acres of land for their flying academy from the forest department. It has located in village rukh Kot lakhpat and village bhabara.
Then a great idea came to mind to modernize the area. The idea was to build an airport. The work on the project has started. They decided to turn the green airfield into a concrete runway. A concrete runway was the first step in establishing the aerodrome.
The next plan was to make it a passenger airport for different flight operations. That was a basic plan, they worked on it for a long time, and it remained under construction until the beginning of 1960 and subsequently shifted to Lahore airport.
For what purposes was this airport utilized?
It is the oldest and most remarkable airport as it had used for many purposes.
The list is here:
- It was used in the Second World War by the army.
- Used for Civilian aircraft.
- In Lahore, Pakistan number of flying schools was there.
- Many aviators operation was there that were the best training institutions for Commercial pilots in Pakistan.
- Department of plant protection (DPP) operates from Walton airport for agriculture spray with their aircraft in the country.
- There were different institutes for the mini golf course.
Aviation operations continued from dawn to dusk.
Is this airport still Exist?
At the time of the independence of Pakistan, Walton airport was the main airport of Lahore. But when Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) acquired their first Boeing 720, in that time Walton was unable to handle the load of a jet aircraft. The Punjab government decided to make a new airport to overcome this hardship. The doors of this new airport opened in 1962. The airport had specifically built a runway to handle the heavy load of the Boeing 747.
As time passed, the demand for air travel rose. So, the government had to build a new airport to fulfill the need of the region. So in March 2003, a new terminal was established by General Pervez Musharraf. The airport was named Allama Iqbal international airport. It became Pakistan’s second largest airport. All the flights moved to the new airport, and the old airport had given to the military. But after some time, the government returned the airport from the military and made it a hajj terminal.
Now because of security reasons, he thought the land should convert into a business place.