Allama Iqbal International Airport (Lahore) (OPLA / LHE)

Pakistan · elevation 712 ft AMSL · 31.5216, 74.4036 · Local time: --:--:-- · UTC time: --:--:--

About Allama Iqbal International Airport (Lahore)

Allama Iqbal International Airport (Lahore) is an airport with the ICAO code OPLA and the IATA code LHE. Country: Pakistan. Nearest settlement listed in the database: Lahore. OurAirports classifies it as a large airport. Its ICAO code starts with the OP prefix, which marks airports in Pakistan. The four-letter code OPLA is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code LHE is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 31°31'18"N, 74°24'13"E, at an elevation of 712 ft (217 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is Asia/Karachi.

Satellite view of OPLA

Aerial imagery showing the runway and apron layout - the zoom is matched to the longest runway.

Open the satellite view in Google Maps

Runways of OPLA

ThresholdCourseLengthWidthSurface
18L180°3,360 m (11,024 ft)46 m (151 ft)asphalt
36R360°
18R180°2,743 m (9,000 ft)46 m (151 ft)asphalt
36L360°

The course is derived from the runway designator (number × 10), not from a survey - the actual magnetic bearing can differ by a few degrees.

Declared distances (TORA, TODA, ASDA, LDA) are published in the national AIP - they are not part of this table.

Climate at Allama Iqbal International Airport (Lahore) - statistics from METAR reports

What the METAR reports from OPLA for 2023-2025 show - counted hour by hour.

We computed these statistics from 26,086 METAR reports issued by OPLA in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed <1% of the time, MVFR 42% and IFR or LIFR 58%. Best month for VFR flying: April (2% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: December (92%).

Through the day, IFR or LIFR conditions are most frequent around 01:00 UTC (88% of reports at that hour) and least frequent around 11:00 UTC (35%).

Fog (FG) was reported on 40 days a year on average, most often in January. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 67 days a year on average, and snowfall practically never.

The wind most often blows from W (270°) - 7% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up 27% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in <1%. Warmest month: June (average high 38.7 °C); coldest: January (average low 6.5 °C).

Year

Selected period in numbers: 2023-2025

VFR hours
<1%
IFR/LIFR hours
58%
Avg high
29.9 °C
Avg low
19.0 °C
Fog days
40
Thunderstorm days
67
Snow days
0
Prevailing wind
W · 7%
Gusts ≥ 25 kt
<1%

Day counts are for the selected period (for all years - the yearly average).

Flight categories month by month
Bar chart: share of VFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR hours in each month0%25%50%75%100%January: VFR 0%, MVFR 11%, IFR 38%, LIFR 52%JanFebruary: VFR 1%, MVFR 37%, IFR 55%, LIFR 7%FebMarch: VFR <1%, MVFR 59%, IFR 40%, LIFR 1%MarApril: VFR 2%, MVFR 67%, IFR 31%, LIFR <1%AprMay: VFR 1%, MVFR 60%, IFR 37%, LIFR 1%MayJune: VFR 0%, MVFR 63%, IFR 36%, LIFR 1%JunJuly: VFR <1%, MVFR 42%, IFR 57%, LIFR 1%JulAugust: VFR 0%, MVFR 57%, IFR 42%, LIFR <1%AugSeptember: VFR 0%, MVFR 55%, IFR 45%, LIFR <1%SeptOctober: VFR 0%, MVFR 32%, IFR 62%, LIFR 6%OctNovember: VFR 0%, MVFR 8%, IFR 64%, LIFR 27%NovDecember: VFR 0%, MVFR 8%, IFR 56%, LIFR 36%Dec
  • VFR <1%
  • MVFR 42%
  • IFR 47%
  • LIFR 11%
Temperature month by month
Chart: average daily high and low temperature in each month0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°40°January: 6.5 … 16.1 °C166JanFebruary: 10.9 … 23.2 °C2311FebMarch: 15.5 … 27.2 °C2715MarApril: 20.5 … 34.6 °C3520AprMay: 25.0 … 37.9 °C3825MayJune: 27.3 … 38.7 °C3927JunJuly: 26.7 … 34.0 °C3427JulAugust: 26.6 … 34.2 °C3427AugSeptember: 25.9 … 34.6 °C3526SeptOctober: 20.5 … 31.7 °C3220OctNovember: 14.5 … 26.0 °C2615NovDecember: 8.2 … 20.5 °C208Dec

The top of each bar is the average daily high, the bottom the average daily low (usually around dawn), in °C.

Wind rose: how often the wind blows from each of 16 directions5%10%N: 4%NNE: 3%NE: 3%ENE: 4%E: 5%ESE: 6%SE: 5%SSE: 5%S: 4%SSW: 2%SW: 2%WSW: 4%W: 7%WNW: 5%NW: 6%NNW: 6%NNNENEENEEESESESSESSSWSWWSWWWNWNWNNWW 7%

Wind rose

  • 1-10 kt
  • 11-20 kt
  • over 20 kt
  • calm: 27%

Most often: W - 7% of reports. Each petal shows the direction the wind blows from (as in METAR) - the longer it is, the more often. Colour shows wind speed.

Month by month

MonthAvg high °CAvg low °CVFRIFR/LIFRFog daysThunderstorm daysSnow days
January16.16.50%89%201.30
February23.210.91%62%22.30
March27.215.5<1%41%0.350
April34.620.52%31%06.30
May37.925.01%38%07.10
June38.727.30%37%06.40
July34.026.7<1%58%0150
August34.226.60%43%0150
September34.625.90%45%04.30
October31.720.50%68%03.30
November26.014.50%92%3.70.70
December20.58.20%92%140.30

Temperatures are averages of daily highs and lows. Day counts are the average per month over the period.

More in the METAR Academy: VFR, MVFR, IFR, LIFR flight categories, fog in METAR

Source: routine METAR reports from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive (Iowa State University), 2023-2025. Flight categories use the FAA thresholds, widely used as a convention. A day counts when it has at least 12 reports. These are statistics of past conditions - not a forecast or a substitute for a pre-flight briefing.

Runways at OPLA

According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Allama Iqbal International Airport (Lahore) has 2 runways: 18L/36R - 3,360 m long (11,024 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface; 18R/36L - 2,743 m long (9,000 ft), 46 m wide, asphalt surface.

The longest of them is 18L/36R, at 3,360 m.

Runway headings and wind

The thresholds are oriented as follows: 18L/36R on 180° and 360° magnetic, 18R/36L on 180° and 360° magnetic. A threshold designator is its magnetic heading divided by ten (ICAO Annex 14), so the runway axis can be read straight off the numbers.

For the 18L/36R axis, wind from the west (around 270°) or from the east (around 90°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 180° or 360° acts along the runway, as a headwind or a tailwind. The decoder on this page computes those components automatically from the current METAR.

METAR and TAF for OPLA

Weather reports for Allama Iqbal International Airport (Lahore) are published under the ICAO code OPLA. A METAR is an observation of current conditions, usually issued every 30 or 60 minutes; a TAF is a forecast for the airport area, typically covering 9 to 30 hours.

The decoder breaks the OPLA report down into its parts: wind direction and speed including gusts and variability, visibility (including CAVOK and directional minimum visibility), weather phenomena by WMO code, cloud layers with their bases, temperature and dew point, QNH pressure, and the resulting flight category - VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR - using FAA thresholds.

Not every airport issues its own reports; many smaller airfields have no weather station. If no current data is available for OPLA, check the nearby airports listed below.

Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The Asia/Karachi zone stays at GMT+05:00 year-round, so converting to local time is always the same shift.

The closest airports in the database, measured in a straight line from the reference point, are Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport (Amritsar) (VIAR, 43 km), Sialkot International Airport (OPST, 113 km), Adampur Airport (VIAX, 129 km). When no report is available for OPLA, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.

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Nearby airports

Looking for a report from a specific day?

The METAR archive for OPLA goes back to 01/12/1976. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.

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Live weather from OPLA on your website

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