Jinnah International aArport

Jinnah Int'l Airport has always been the largest aviation facility - both international & domestic - in Pakistan. It is the primary hub of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).From the 1960s to 1980s Karachi was once a much busier airport. It was an online station of many major airlines of the world including British Airways, Lufthansa, Aeroflot, Swiss Air, KLM, Air France, etc. However, due to the emergence of Dubai's airport in the 1990s, acting as the "gateway between Europe and Asia", several airlines discontinued their service to the airport. The airport states that they handle almost 6 Mio passengers per year.ARRIVAL:Upon arrival we gladly went to the "Foreigners" counter. As we had been the only non-Pakistanis on our flight we were through in less than 10 min. Your passport & visa are checked and a small camera takes your picture. (As the whole affair looked rather serious, we tried not to laugh at the female officer's amusing name: Rosie Butt ;-)Once outside the terminal there are plenty of taxis waiting to take you on the 30-45 min drive into the city. There are also public telephones (where you MUST haggle for the cheapest price possible...)DEPARTURE:Be prepared to be separated at the security check before entering the departure lounge. There are separate queues for men & women where your hand luggage is screened. Strangely, we as women were never asked to walk through the metal detector. They seem to prefer a "hands-on approach" with female passengers & we always got the patting-down treatment.There aren't really any restaurants in the departure area... we saw a McDonald's and reluctantly approached, only to hear that any order would take at least 20 min because the food is cooked in another part of the terminal.There are some snack-stands where you can purchase soft drinks, chocolate bars, crisps, etc. & for nicotine addicts amongst us there is also a smoking area.It's not one of the best airport I've ever been in, but also by far not one of the worst.