Saudi Arabia’s multibillion-riyal airports development project to meet growing traffic demand is on track according to the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). All 27 of the country’s airports are being redeveloped and expanded in one form or another.
“The developmental projects being carried out at the Kingdom’s various airports are part of a strategic program to develop and modernize all the airports in the Kingdom,” says GACA President Abdullah Al-Rehaimy. “The objective is to absorb the steady growth being witnessed in air traffic in the Kingdom.”
Last year, Saudi airports handled 44.2 million passengers and 564,769 tons of cargo used by 48 international airlines.
The country’s three main international airports in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam are undergoing massive development projects and a fourth international airport is set to rise in Madinah.
All four will be converted into holding companies as part of a bigger plan to have off civil aviation into different sectors, privatize them and open them up to investment.
This will, however, be carried out gradually according to Al-Rehaimy. So far, the government is estimated to have spent nearly SR60 billion on airport upgrading — and that figure does not include new development projects, such as new airports and terminals. In the view of most observers it is all sorely needed. Saudi airports, especially the international ones, come in for regular criticism as being among the least up-to-date in the region. But there are other reasons that make airport expansion imperative. According to GACA, air traffic is expected to increase 8 percent annually.
As it is, 17 million passengers used King Abdulaziz Airport (KAIA) in Jeddah last year, while airports in Riyadh and Dammam handled 11 million and 3.5 million passengers respectively. At King Fahd International Airport (KFA) in Dammam, plans are in hand to turn it into a major business city to attract more foreign airlines and passengers and compete with neighbors Bahrain. The project includes construction of hotels, conference halls, an aviation training institute and aircraft maintenance industries as well as playgrounds and parking areas. On the other side of the country, efforts are under way to turn Madinah airport into an international hub with an annual capacity to serve 30 million passengers, mainly foreign pilgrims, within the next 30 years. The project will be constructed in three phases.
The infrastructure and facilities at KAIA are constantly being upgraded and work on its new terminal is on schedule for opening in 2012/13.
“With the cooperation of our stakeholders, KAIA will be upgraded to international standards with world-class facilities. By 2012/13, KAIA, which opened in 1981, will have a new expanded and upgraded look with a new terminal that will be able to handle 30 million passengers,” says Abdulelah O. Falemban, director of safety and quality assurance, and secretary of the airports’ supervisory committee.
By then, passenger traffic at KAIA is expected to exceed the 20-million mark. By the time the three-phase expansion program is finished in 2035, the airport will have the capacity to handle 80 million passengers a year, making it the largest airport in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world.
According to GACA, the expansion program will include construction of a new aircraft parking facility as well as modernization of ground lighting systems and information technology infrastructure. A 6.5-square kilometer area will also be set aside for commercial projects including hotels and office accommodation.
Thanks to a SR6.79-billion deal signed in February with Al-Rajhi Alliance to build a new railway system. Passengers arriving at KAIA in the future will have the convenience of traveling by train direct from the airport’s new terminals to the Kingdom’s holy sites in Makkah and Madinah. The railway system is due to be operational in 2012. As part of the overall airport expansion program, the international airports will come under new management. In November, Crown Prince Sultan, deputy prime minister and minister of defense and aviation, signed three six-year contracts valued at SR579 million with Fraport AG of Germany and Singapore’s Changi Airports International to operate and develop the Kingdom’s three major airports. Fraport will operate KAIA at Jeddah and the Riyadh-based King Khalid International Airport while KFA at Dammam will be operated by Changi.
Work on a new airport in Al-Ula, near the heritage site at Madain Saleh, is due to be completed next year, according to Hani Jamalullail, GACA’s director of engineering. The airport, named after the late Prince Abdul Majeed, who was governor of Madinah and Makkah, will cost SR143 million.
“We have completed about 28 percent of the project,” says Jamalullail.
The project includes construction of a passenger lounge accommodating 190 people an hour, the main runway and a 6,800 square meter facility to park MD90 and Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
The airport is aimed to boost tourism traffic to Madain Saleh and other historic places in the area. It is designed to serve 100,000 people (both tourists and local residents) annually.
GACA’s president recently said that work at Najran and Sharurah airports would be completed within three years’ time at a cost of SR300 million.
Development includes new runways and an upgrading and expansion of airport buildings and cargo terminals.
Additionally, it is planned that some of the Kingdom’s airports neighboring its borders will be run as “regional international” hubs. Jazan airport will receive international flights coming from Yemen.