ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has asked its customers to report at least five hours prior to departure time for their international flights at new Islamabad International Airport.

In a statement shared on its twitter handle on Thursday, PIA said in light of the traffic congestion due to strict security checks at entry points of the new Islamabad Airport, the valued PIA customers are requested to report at least 5 hours prior to departure time for their international flights.

On May 01, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated new Islamabad International Airport.

The airport is slated to be one of Asia's major aviation hubs and destinations. Islamabad International Airport is designed by French company Aéroports de Paris Ingenierie and CPG Corporation of Singapore. It is built on 4,238 acres of land and consists of 4-level passenger terminal building, 2 runways, taxiways, apron, parking bays for wide-body aircraft.

The airport is connected to Islamabad and Rawalpindi via the Kashmir Highway and Motorway via Thallian interchange with the link to the proposed ring road. A four-lane highway has also been constructed by NHA to cater cargo traffic.

The Islamabad Metro bus project is also being expanded to connect the airport but the work is still underway on the project.

It took almost 11 years to build the new Islamabad International Airport after the ground breaking in April 2007. The 4-level passenger terminal building is 190,370 square metres specifically designed to facilitate passengers and stakeholders and is completely high-tech and fully computerised with integrated systems of international standards.