The new King Abdulaziz International Airport with world-class facilities will be ready by the end of this year, said Prince Fahd bin Abdullah, president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation.
“About 60 percent of the project has been completed and the remaining work will be carried out at a much faster pace to finish on time,” he said after inspecting progress of work at the airport on Saturday.
Prince Fahd said experimental operation of the new airport would start during the first five months of 2015. The new expansion will increase the airport’s annual capacity to 30 million passengers in the first phase and 80 million in the final phase.
The SR27-billion project is designed to make KAIA one of the largest hubs in the world. Spanning an area of 670,000 sqm, the airport will have two new terminals for domestic and international passengers.
Prince Fahd said GACA has a plan to train 100 Saudi engineers on the project to help them gain expertise in airport operation and management. “We will also train government employees working at the airport to improve their performance,” the GACA chief said.
Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf, who accompanied the prince during the tour, said the new airport projects in Jeddah and Madinah offer the private sector ample investment opportunity.
“I can see considerable progress in the KAIA expansion project. I believe if the work goes on at this pace, it will be completed very soon,” the minister said. He said the new KAIA would play a pivotal role in linking East and West.
Faisal Al-Sugair, vice president of GACA, Khaled Al-Molhem, director-general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, and Abdul Hameed Abalarry, director general of KAIA, accompanied Prince Fahd during the airport tour.
Apart from the construction of two new terminals, the project includes passenger lounges, a new concourse building with 25 additional passenger bridges and connector buildings linking the terminals, air bridges and movable gates, extension and overall renovation of the existing South Terminal, apron and taxiway modifications and extensions, electrical and mechanical systems, and a car-park.
New Jeddah airport will be ready by year-end
New Jeddah airport will be ready by year-end
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