Flight SV1547 from King Abdulaziz Airport will be the first of 77 weekly flights to land at the new airport.
The Tabuk airport, which was modernized and expanded recently with panoramic front designs and new runways at a cost of SR242 million, is one of the Kingdom’s new generation airports established by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).
The GACA carried out the project in order to meet the requirements of the growing number of passengers visiting the Tabuk province. Last year, the airport handled more than 686,000 passengers and nearly 2,500 tons of cargo.
“The present airport can accommodate 1,500 passengers per hour,” a GACA official said, adding that it would receive international flights from neighboring Arab and Gulf countries.
The GACA is studying applications from three airlines — FlyDubai, AlMasria Universal and Nile Air — to operate international flights from Tabuk Regional Airport. “We expect more such applications from other airlines,” the official said.
The expansion project has increased the airport’s area of 33,779 square meters by another 12,000 square meters. The airport has new arrival and departure lounges and jet bridges to bring passengers from gates to planes.
The new airport will boost the growth of Tabuk province because a large number of people have recently started to travel to Tabuk for business, investment, education and tourism, said the GACA official.
There are 27 domestic and four international airports in Saudi Arabia constructed over the last four decades. King Fahd International Airport in Dammam is the largest.
