The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) signed an agreement with Irish team to operate Terminal 5 at King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) on Tuesday.

GACA President Suleiman Al-Hamdan signed the management and operation agreement of KKIA terminal 5 with Colm Moran, CEO of Dublin Airports Co. (DAA) of Ireland at his office in Riyadh.

The contract was signed in light of the authority’s policy aimed at the privatization of the airports and assign the operation to the private sector in an effort to raise the level of services and work according to competitive standards.

“This is the first project of its kind for GACA and we are very excited to be working with DAA International who submitted a very attractive and competitive bid for managing and operating this brand new terminal at KKIA,” Al-Hamdan said.

The contract, which is for an initial period of five years, comprises all terminal management services within T5.

“We are delighted to have won this highly significant contract at KKAI and we look forward to providing a fantastic travel experience for passengers,” said Colm Moran.

“This is DAA International’s first airport management contract and our intention is to build on this win by adding further significant contracts in the months and years ahead,” he added.

The new terminal, which goes into operation in a few months, will serve the Kingdom’s domestic flights market, where it can accommodate up to 16 narrow bodied aircraft, or 8 wide bodied aircraft. The terminal also has a parking structure that can accommodate up to 3,000 vehicles.

The T5 covers an area of 106.500 sqm, with a 12 million domestic passenger capacity. DAA won the contract in a competitive bidding conducted by GACA among the 6 biggest international airport operation companies in Europe, Asia and Africa.