Skardu Airport is a small domestic airport, located at Skardu

Skardu

Skardu , is the main town of the region Baltistan and the capital of Skardu District, one of the districts making up Pakistan's Gilgit Baltistan....

, Northern Areas, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. Skardu is one of the two major hubs of all trekking expeditions in the Northern Areas, a region that includes four of the fourteen Eight-thousander

Eight-thousander

The eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent mountains on Earth that are more than high above sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia....

 peaks (8,000 m (26,247 ft) and above) of the world. Skardu is the gateway to Baltoro Glacier

Baltoro Glacier

The Baltoro Glacier, at 62 kilometers long, is one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions. It is located in Baltistan, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, and runs through part of the Karakoram mountain range. The Baltoro Muztagh lies to the north and east of the glacier, while...

, Concordia

Concordia, Pakistan

Concordia is the name for the confluence of the Baltoro Glacier and the Godwin-Austen Glacier, in the heart of the Karakoram range of Pakistan. It is located in Baltistan region of Pakistan...

, where spectacular views of three of the Eight-thousanders are available.It is also being used as a regional PAF

Pakistan Air Force

The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...

 airbase.

Although the journey from Islamabad

Islamabad

Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...

 to Skardu by Karakoram Highway

Karakoram Highway

The Karakoram Highway is the highest paved international road in the world, but at its peak at the China-Pakistan border it is only paved on the Chinese side. It connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass, at an altitude of as confirmed by both...

 provides a beautiful scenery, the journey by road takes 20 to 24 hours whereas the flight time for the same journey is nearly an hour. This makes air travel from Islamabad to Skardu an attractive choice for many trekkers.

Airlines and destinations

Skardu is the only airport in Pakistan which gets only jet Boeing 737

Boeing 737

The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...

 aircraft, flights are depending heavily on weather conditions and are often canceled at any time and resumed on short notice.

See also

• List of airports in Pakistan
• Airlines of Pakistan
  Airlines of Pakistan
  The Pakistan aviation industry was started up when Orient Airways merged with Pakistan International Airlines Corporation to become the national flag carrier of Pakistan called Pakistan International Airlines...
  
  
• Transport in Pakistan
  Transport in Pakistan
  Transportation in Pakistan is extensive and varied but still in its developing stages and serving a population of over 170 million people. Construction of new airports, roads, and railway lines have led to an employment boost in the country. Much of Pakistan's road network and railway network...
  
  
• Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority
  Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority
  Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority is a regulatory authority, which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in Pakistan. Nearly all civilian airports in Pakistan are owned and operated by the CAA...