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KARACHI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Pakistan said on Wednesday it had offered the British-led international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan the use its airport in the southern city of Karachi on commercial terms.

"It is more of a commercial venture. They are looking for an international airport to manage their operations and we have offered them Karachi airport," Arshad Rashid Sethi, deputy director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority, told Reuters.

Sethi said the CAA had offered an old terminal building and other facilities at the airport that were not in use for regular operations on the same commercial terms and conditions applied to foreign airlines.

A field survey team from Britain had evaluated the airport. "We are waiting for their approval," Sethi said.

"It will not be a military deal. We will charge them like any other commercial airline. They will pay a rent on every facility they use," he said.

Pakistan has granted permission for the U.S. military to use three isolated airbases at Pasni and Shamsi in southwestern Baluchistan province, and Jacobabad in southern Sindh province.

Pakistan has said those airports were not for use in combat operations by U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan but for search and rescue missions.

Aviation officials said the deal, which was likely to be finalised in a few weeks, would be the first commercial contract between Pakistan and the allied force.

Sethi said the international security force in Afghanistan was looking for a transit station outside the country for supplies bound there.

"They will use bigger aircraft to bring in supplies...and need facilities of warehousing, ground handling...which are readily available at Karachi airport," Sethi said.

"It would involve 10 to 12 flights of jumbo aircraft on a daily basis...it would result in a good amount of revenue for us," he said.

The CAA said in October the downturn in the airline industry in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States was costing it $125,000 a week.

The CAA's annual revenue during the 2000/01 (July/June) fiscal year was 5.5 billion rupees ($91.3 million). 

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