For a long time now, we have been reading and hearing about plans for the expansion of Jeddah airport. I emphasize that we have heard much talk but we have seen no action of any kind. Two years ago we heard that the private sector would be invited to build new expansion projects at the airport in order to increase its capacity on a BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis. It seems, however, that no carefully studied plans were ever conducted on the project. Had there been any plans, their implementation could have begun immediately after invitations being extended to foreign firms which were interested in carrying out the work. It is a fact of course that airport projects are among the most profitable in the world.
As the gateway to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, Jeddah serves millions of passengers and handles millions of tons of goods; it should have several free zones attached to it and should be capable of receiving wide-bodied aircraft of the Airbus 380 type. This particular aircraft is capable of carrying 550 passengers and it can be increased to 800 when necessary. Jeddah could easily compete with Dubai as a transit center linking the various continents of the world. By being able to accommodate the wide-bodied aircraft that save 20 percent of the normal fare, Jeddah could have helped millions of Muslims to benefit from this service. The service would be of great benefit to transit passengers who could disembark at Jeddah and visit Makkah in order to perform Umrah and Madinah to pray at the Prophet’s Mosque before resuming their journey.
It is sad to see Dubai moving ahead of us by purchasing 45 wide-bodied aircraft and Qatar buying five as well. Our Jeddah airport is still unable to accommodate this aircraft and even if we ordered them today, it would be two years before they were delivered. By that time, Dubai would be even further ahead of us and that is a big gap in an ever-expanding industry.
What made Dubai an international tourist destination as well as an international transit point was one thing and one thing only: Good planning. When will we learn to look ahead and plan for the future instead of always lagging behind? We do not lack the resources; what seems impossible is for us to use them wisely and intelligently.
