Jiwani Airport

Jiwani Airport (IATA: JIW, ICAO: OPJI) is situated 10 km away from the city centre of Jiwani in Balochistan. It is not a major airport of Pakistan. At this time, there is no scheduled service to or from the airport. Jiwani or Jwani is a town and commercial port that is located along the Gulf of Oman in the Gwadar District of the Balochistan province in Pakistan. It is located near the Pakistani border with Iran. With the Makran Coastal Highway now reaching Jiwani from Gwadar and also connecting Karachi, Jiwani is a place to be seen especially by those who are interested in observing history more closely.

Jiwani Airport جِيوانى ہوائی اڈا Jīvānī Havā'ī Aḍā
IATA: JIW ICAO: OPJI
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority
Location	Jiwani-91100
Elevation AMSL	186 ft / 57 m
Coordinates	25°04′04″N 061°48′20″E
Map
Jiwani Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 03/21 5,332 1,625 Composite material

Jiwani is 34 km from the Iranian border. It holds strategic importance in the region, being located adjacent to the shipping lanes to and from the Persian Gulf. This is the main reason for the town hosting a relatively large sized naval base and a mud track airport with a 5,500-foot runway which is still accountable to be operational.

Mangrove forest

The area around the bay includes an important mangrove forest extending across the international border, and is an important habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, especially the endangered Olive Ridley and Green Turtles. Plans to grant fishing concessions and offshore drilling rights are potentially a threat to the wildlife of the area.

The population largely depends upon fishing. There are a number of export-oriented fish freezing plants located in Jiwani.

World War II

Also known as RAF Jiwani, during World War II, the airport was also used by the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command. It functioned as a stopover en route to Sharjah Airport, UAE or Karachi Airport, Pakistan on the Karachi-Cairo route. Visiting the barracks area of the base used during World War II in Jiwani reveals many handwritten small stories and names of Allied pilots. A water system at the base, which is no longer in use, is a marvel of civil works and holds great uniqueness for meeting water requirements of the base. It used to store rain water in three stages in order to clean the water using its usual flow. The water was then pumped to the base and also up to the Victoria Hut which is nearly 5 km from the water tank system.

See also

• List of airports in Pakistan

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

External links

• Accident history for JIW at Aviation Safety Network
• Airport information for OPJI at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).