Pakistan PM inaugurates long-delayed new airport in capital Islamabad

Pakistani prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Tuesday inaugurated the long-delayed new airport in the capital, Islamabad, replacing the cramped Benazir Bhutto airport often criticised by travellers. With a sleek glass-front entrance, spacious check-in areas and jetway bridges for boarding, the Y-shaped airport promises an end to the congestion that has frustrated air travel in the past. "This airport rightly reflects what has happened in Pakistan in the last 5 years," said Abbasi. Abbasi's ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party had been eager to open the new airport before national polls, likely in July, as it touts big-ticket infrastructure as sign of economic progress in the South Asian nation of 208m people. <br/>