Bacha Khan International Airport , formerly known as Peshawar International Airport, is an international airport located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Located in the southwestern end of the city of Peshawar, it is the fourth-busiest airport in Pakistan. One of the main runways of the airport is crossed by a railway line known as the Khyber train safari, which runs to the town of Landi Kotal in the Khyber Pass for the express purpose of tourism. The airport was renamed on 27 January 2012 after Abdul Ghaffar Khan (nicknamed Bacha Khan), a prominent British Indian freedom fighter and later Pakistani Pashtun activist. The airport was extensively reconstructed from 2016 to 2018. History Strategically situated in the heart of Peshawar, Bacha Khan International Airport is located approximately 180 km from Islamabad (federal capital of Pakistan) which makes it about a two-hour drive from the capital via M-1 motorway. Since Peshawar is the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, it provides world connections for the majority of the northwest region of the country and adjoining areas of Afghanistan. Since the province has a large Afghan Pashtun community residing within KPK, Afghanistan flights have always been on the rise. The airport traces its origins to 1927 when there was a small airfield that catered to much of the British Empire and Imperial Airways aircraft that were either travelling onwards to the east (e.g. to China and Malaysia/Singapore) or west (e.g. Europe and America). For this reason the city was given the nickname "Gateway to the East" because it linked the traditional oriental culture to modern occidental traditions. The airport gained importance after the independence of Pakistan from the British Raj; the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAA) and the Pakistan Air Force started to use the airfield jointly for both military and civil operations. There were countless flights operated to and from Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, as well as other cities within the newly formed state. The airport achieved international status in 1965 when the first flight was operated from Kabul, Afghanistan to Peshawar. The flight was operated by the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). As years went on the airport grew with more flights and aircraft and relative upgrade was carried out from time to time. It was not until 1981 that the CAA extended the terminal to meet future needs for the next decade and to meet the estimated